KPU Chair Strictly Says 2024 Election Will Not Use E-voting Technology

Chairman of the Indonesian General Elections Commission (KPU) Ilham Saputra at the RI KPU Building, Jakarta. (ANTARA/Tri Meilani Ameliya)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Ilham Saputra said election organizers did not plan to use an electronic voting system or e-voting during the 2024 General Election.

This was conveyed by Ilham in the International Seminar on Election Governance entitled "Electoral Governance in Indonesia: Adopting Technology, Promoting Transparency, and Enhancing Integrity" at the KPU Building, Jakarta, Tuesday 29 March.

"Until now, the KPU does not plan to use e-voting (in the 2024 election). However, we have used information technology, as in previous elections, such as the Electronic Recapitulation Information System (Sirekap). Of course, we also initiated Sirekap to be used in Election 2024," he said.

According to Ilham, the use of "e-voting" in the 2024 General Election is not yet important to implement because so far, the stages of voting in elections have not been problematic.

He said that the problem with holding elections was at the stage of vote recapitulation.

Ilham conveyed, in several elections that have been held in Indonesia, a number of parties often suspect fraud in vote counting.

Therefore, according to Ilham, his party is more focused on utilizing technology in counting votes through Sirekap in order to prevent fraud.

"That's what we use information technology for the recapitulation so that the process becomes transparent, information on the results of the vote count can be directly known to the public, and the results can be more accurate because they can be known day to day," said Ilham.

In addition, he continued, the use of e-voting also requires tools with expensive prices and maintenance.

Thus, according to Ilham, if the KPU uses a technology system in polling, it will have an impact on increasing the amount of the 2024 election budget.

On the same occasion, Ilham also expressed his hope to the DPR to immediately plan a hearing with the KPU so that the draft KPU regulation (PKPU) related to the stages, schedule and program of the 2024 General Election could be ratified immediately.