DPR Requests Party Cadres To Become KPU Members In The Election Bill Considered To Be A Political Setback

JAKARTA - The Indonesian House of Representatives submitted an article which attracted attention in the Draft Law on General Elections (Pemilu). It is not clear which faction proposed it. There is an article stating that cadres of political parties may serve as members of the General Election Commission (KPU).

In the draft as of November 26, 2020, Article 16 Paragraph (7) states that the membership composition of the KPU, provincial KPU, and regency/city KPU takes into account the proportional representation of political parties based on the results of the previous election.

Deputy Chairman of Commission II DPR from the NasDem Faction, Saan Mustopa explained the reasons for the inclusion of the proposal in the draft election bill. He said, basically the ranks of KPU members each period are elected by the votes of the DPR members.

"Sometimes the phenomenon of organizers, although from an independent party, is still basically determined by the DPR, which is also part of the political parties," said Saan at the DPR RI Building, Tuesday, January 26.

The DPR, said Saan, considered that KPU membership could not be separated from the association of political parties in the factions in the DPR. Saan said that there were KPU member candidates who had come to the party for support.

"For example, he wants to be a commissioner, he still comes to the party to get support and so on. Of course there is an understanding there is an agreement and so on. So, there is something like, yes, it is vaguely related to political parties. It can't be separated from there. If that's the case, why not just come from the party?" he continued.

However, this proposal is not certain to be included in the final draft of the Election Bill because it is still only a proposal by a number of DPR members and is still being discussed.

The understanding of the DPR has been delayed

The Executive Director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyati, considered the suggestion that political party cadres could become KPU members as a political setback.

Let's reflect on the performance of the democratic party in 1999. After President Soeharto was deposed and replaced by BJ Habibie, the government held its first election after the reform period.

At that time, the KPU members consisted of 48 representatives of political parties and 5 representatives of the government. As a result, a number of losing parties did not recognize the election results. Thus, the KPU faces a deadlock situation.

"We have experience in the 1999 elections. At that time, political parties that did not get seats refused to validate the election results and finally President Habibie decided the election results," said Ninis to VOI.

Since then, the DPR and the government issued Law No. 4 of 2000 which explicitly states that KPU members consist of independent and non-partisan people.

Moreover, the Constitutional Court has issued decision Number 81 / PUU-IX / 2011. The Constitutional Court emphasized that the election organizer must be an independent institution. This has also been stated in Article 22E of the 1945 Constitution which states that the election organizer is national, permanent, and independent.

So, if someone with a party background wants to run as an election organizer, there must be an interval of 5 years after resigning from the party.

"So, in my opinion, the proposal in the Election Bill is a setback. The existence of an element of interest is one of the worries if a party becomes the election organizer," he said.