Bawaslu About Pilkada To Be Held In 2024 With The Presidential And Legislative Elections: Imagine The Burden On The Organizers

Bawaslu Building (DOK. Bawaslu)

JAKARTA - Member of the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) Rahmat Bagja warned of a number of problems if regional head elections (pilkada) are held simultaneously with the national elections in 2024.

Bagja gave an example of holding the 2019 Election. The elections for the president, DPR RI, DPD RI, Provincial DPRD, and Regency / City DPRD were put together at one time.

The election of five ballot boxes, said Bagja, is a huge burden for election organizers. Starting from managing the administration of nominations and voters, holding elections, to recapitulating the results of the election votes.

If the 2019 Election alone has become a heavy burden, the 2024 Pilkada plan to coincide with the 2024 General Election will be even more burdensome.

"This issue becomes the starting point for future election management aspects, let alone combined with the 514 regencies / cities, 34 provincial elections, plus a few months later there will be a presidential election and also a legislative election. So, we can imagine what the burden on the organizers will be," said Bagja in the discussion. virtual, Friday, February 12.

Bagja admitted that there is an option for submitting the recapitulation of votes at the polling station level to the KPU, by using the Vote Recapitulation Information System (Sirekap) electronically and does not need to be done in stages.

However, said Bagja, Sirekap was not fully applicable to elections with a very large number of candidates. Not to mention, not all regions have adequate internet connections.

"In the last election alone, on the first day there was no Sirekap at all because the system was down. Finally, it was the same as the administrative pattern that became a burden, namely conventional administration.

Regarding this, the DPR on November 26, 2020 drafted a draft proposal on the Election Law (RUU Pemilu). This bill, if passed, will revise the existing electoral laws.

One of the provisions contained in the Election Bill is to normalize the pilkada schedule. From the 2017 Pilkada to 2022 and the 2018 Pilkada to 2023. This bill revises the provisions of Law Number 10 of 2016 which stipulate that the next pilkada be synchronized in 2024.

Initially, only the PDI-P faction gave notes about the desire for the regional election to be held in 2024.