DPRD Pilkada as a Test of the Prabowo Coalition's Solidness
JAKARTA - PPI executive director Adi Prayitno assessed that the strengthening of the Pilkada discourse through the DPRD is a test for the solidity of political parties that are included in the coalition supporting Prabowo Subianto.
Because, the discourse is not just about budget efficiency, but related to the existence of differences in political attitudes and strategic interests of each political party.
"I read why almost all political parties support the Pilkada discourse by the DPRD, this seems like a kind of trial about the possibility of a permanent coalition that was built some time ago," he said, Friday, January 2.
"This is a kind of test case or test of solidity, roughly who can be invited to cooperate and their strength can be measured from case to case such as the DPRD or not," continued Adi.
According to him, every political party must remember the serious constitutional issue, considering that the Constitutional Court (MK) has ruled that the regional election and the general election are in one group that cannot be separated.
Therefore, if the regional election is chosen by the DPRD, the mechanism will be different from the presidential and legislative elections which are directly chosen by the people.
"It must be read constitutionally that the Constitutional Court's decision is final and binding, and then the decision cannot be disputed by anyone. So this is what has become a quite extraordinary discourse, worrying that the Constitutional Court's decision will not be followed by other political decisions," he explained.
Meanwhile, regarding the reasons for efficiency that are often stated, Adi revealed that there are still many other options that can be taken without having to change the direct pilkada mechanism. For example, technical engineering of implementation such as adding the number of voters per TPS or longer voting time arrangements.
"If we talk about the efficiency of the implementation, it can be cheated. The number of voters per TPS can be increased, the voting hours can be extended, and even e-voting, which is more simple technically and administratively, can be thought of," he added.
He emphasized that the root of the problem of the high cost of the political cost of the election was actually in the internal politics of the political party.
Political donations and the practice of money politics can only be suppressed if political parties actually ban them.
"If the party prohibits political dowry, political costs can be suppressed. But the public also knows, every election and gubernatorial season is often a spring for parties to collect logistics," said Adi.