3 Hi-tech Villages In South Kalimantan, Hold Pilkades With E-Voting Method

Photo via Ministry of Home Affairs

JAKARTA - The Regional Government of Tabalong Regency, South Kalimantan, will hold the 2021 Simultaneous Village Head Elections (Pilkades) in 64 villages. The cool thing is, 3 of them use the electronic voting method (e-voting).

This was known when the Director General of Village Administration (Pemdes) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) Yusharto Huntoyungo monitored the implementation of the Pilkades virtually, last week quoted from the Public Relations of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The use of the e-voting method in the 3 villages was found in 15 polling stations (TPS). Based on information from representatives from the Tabalong Regency Communication, Information and Statistics (Diskominfotik) Office, it is known that the use of the e-voting method in the Pilkades is not evenly distributed due to limited equipment.

Nevertheless, Yusharto appreciated the use of the e-voting method in the 3 villages. He also gave a number of research suggestions so that the use of this method can run well.

"So that in the future we can get a better system and find obstacles and solutions," he said.

Yusharto appealed that the implementation of the Pilkades could continue to pay attention to the implementation of health protocols (prokes) at every stage, from counting votes to the inauguration of the elected village head.

Not only that, the implementation of health procedures also needs to be accompanied by the presence of vaccination booths. Thus, the vaccination program in Tabalong Regency can run faster.

Meanwhile, representing the Tabalong Regent, Head of the Community Empowerment and Village Administration (DPMPD) Ariyanto said that the Pilkades in his area had been carried out in accordance with Regent Regulation No. 4 of 2021. The regulation regulates the implementation of prokes and limits the maximum number of voters in each TPS as many as 500 people.

This is reinforced by the results of the field team's report that assessed the implementation of the health care program in the sample TPS under controlled conditions. In general, the voting process is also in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Home Affairs (Permendagri) Number 72 of 2021 concerning the Second Amendment to Permendagri Number 112 of 2015 concerning the Pilkades.

In addition, the handling of Covid-19 in the district is considered under control, as stated in the Regent's Letter Number B.461/DPMPD-Bid PAD/141/10/2021 dated October 18, 2021, regarding the Report on the Implementation of the 2nd Wave of Simultaneous Pilkades in Tabalong Regency. 2021 year.

For information, the Pilkades in Tabalong Regency was followed by 64 villages in 12 sub-districts. In total there were 230 village head candidates (Cakades), consisting of 216 men and 14 women, who took part in the pilkades in this area. Meanwhile, based on the Permanent Voters List (DPT), the number of voters was 69,890 people, spread over 185 polling stations.

The monitoring activity carried out by Yusharto and his staff was also attended virtually by representatives of the Regional Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimda), the Security Team from the TNI-Polri, the District Attorney, Dikominfotik, sub-district heads, and members of the local DPRD. On that occasion, they had the opportunity to see the direct practice of implementing health procedures in the sample polling stations.