Participate In Low Pilkada, Bawaslu Reasons For Less TPS Number Than The 2024 General Election

Illustration of the 2024 General Election and Regional Head Elections at TPS 44, Permata Hijau Lestari Complex, Rappocini, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Wednesday, February 14, 2024. (ANTARA-Darwin Fatir)

JAKARTA - Member of the Indonesian General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Lolly Suhenty said the number of polling stations (TPS) in the 2024 Pilkada was lower than the 2024 General Election affected voters' participation.

"We always consider, for example, one matter of reduced TPS, so that people reach more and more polling stations," said Lolly when met in Bintan, Riau Islands, quoted Wednesday, December 4, quoted by Antara.

Lolly said, Bawaslu had asked residents who did not participate. One of them is caused by the distance from long polling stations.

"We ask the public directly why they don't come. One of them is because the TPS is far away," he said.

In addition to the smaller number of polling stations when compared to the elections, Lolly also said that the close distance between the 2024 General Election and the 2024 Regional Head Election caused the saturation of voters, thus affecting public participation.

"The other is about too close to the election time with the election, so there will be saturation in the voter environment," he said.

Lolly said various evaluations related to community participation in the 2024 Pilkada will serve as a reminder with election organizers.

"Because if the public is not involved, it's a shame. The election budget is big," said Lolly.

Previously, on Wednesday, June 5, the Indonesian KPU revealed that 81.78 percent of voters exercised their voting rights in the 2024 presidential election, then 81.42 percent for the Indonesian House of Representatives Election, and 81.36 percent for the DPD RI Member Election.

Meanwhile, the national average voter participation in the 2024 Pilkada reached 68 percent and this included extraordinary achievements.

However, he said that the Indonesian KPU would thoroughly evaluate the decline in voter participation when compared to the 2024 General Election.