Consider The Cost Of The Gubernatorial Election To Be Expensive, PKB Proposes That The Governor Be Chosen By The DPRD

Illustration. DKI Jakarta DPRD Building. (Diah-VOI)

JAKARTA - The chairman of the PKB faction of the DPR, Jazilul Fawaid, highlighted the cost of direct regional head elections (Pilkada) which were quite expensive, especially the election of governors and deputy governors (pilgub). He also proposed that the governor be elected through the Provincial Regional House of Representatives (DPRD).

The high election costs for governors, according to Jazilul, can be seen in the 2024 Pilkada this time. For example, in the West Java Pilkada, he said, the government had to spend more than IDR 1 trillion, not to mention the election for governors in other regions.

"It's not a small budget. If the Rp1 trillion is given to a district in one of the provinces, in NTT for example, it can make the economy rise," Jazilul told reporters, Thursday, November 28.

Therefore, the East Java X electoral district legislator proposed that in the future the election of governors and deputy governors be carried out through the DPRD of each province, no longer directly elected by the people. Because according to him, regional autonomy is actually in districts/cities so that direct regional elections are sufficient to be carried out at the district/city level.

"Because the regional autonomy is at level two. What is the governor's function?" said Jazilul.

The Deputy Chairperson of the PKB DPP said that democracy must continue and the people must be given an agreement for participation. Cadres, he said, should also be given the opportunity to participate. However, according to him, the use of budgets should also be a concern.

"But the effectiveness of the budget must also be considered because the budget spent is very large," he said.

The deputy chairman of the DPR RI's Budget Agency (Banggar) emphasized that the matter must be a discussion among political parties. According to Jazilul, this discussion can be carried out in the context of revising the political law package that uses the omnibus law system.

"The law combines the Law on Political Parties, Election Law, and the Pilkada Law," he said.

In addition to the governor's election being carried out through the DPRD, PKB also proposed a separation between the legislative elections (Pileg) and the presidential election (Pilpres) in order to respect the sovereignty of the people in choosing presidential candidates and legislative candidates carefully.

"The impact of the Pilleg and Presidential Elections which was held simultaneously, finally the candidates for the legislature of the DPR RI escaped the public's attention. The public's thoughts and attention were focused on the presidential election," said Jazilul.