Bawaslu Asks To Consider Re-voting Of The 2024 Pilkada Supported By The Central Budget

Bawaslu RI. (doc the Police)

Chairman of the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) Rahmat Bagja said the 2024 Pilkada re-voting (PSU) in a number of areas due to the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) requires budget support from the central government to anticipate the limited Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD).

"The APBD restrictions on provincial and district/city governments have resulted in the non-resolution of the budget for PSU surveillance activities, so support from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance is needed," said Bagja during a meeting with Commission II of the DPR RI at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Thursday, February 27, which was confiscated by Antara.

He explained that the implementation of the regional elections was allocated using grant funds through the APBD, and the remaining unrefunded grants must be returned to the regional treasury no later than three months after the appointment of elected regional head candidates.

"However, when a district/city Bawaslu is decided to organize a PSU, the provincial Bawaslu is mandated to oversee the implementation of the PSU until the stage ends," he said.

For Bawaslu itself, according to him, currently implementing the policy of Presidential Instruction Number 1 of 2025 concerning budget efficiency, where the Bawaslu budget is blocked by almost 50 percent. So that the provincial Bawaslu does not have sufficient budget to supervise PSU in districts/cities.

According to him, this is a problem related to the formation of the Gakkumdu Center at the provincial level. Because provincial Bawaslu is obliged to return the remaining grant funds to the regional treasury, so that PSU supervision does not have availability.

"So this is also a problem, for example Banjarbaru, the funds have been returned, for supervision by Bawaslu, the activating the Gakkumdu Center is a bit of a problem," he said.

Based on the official website of the Constitutional Court, of the 40 cases of Dispute over the 2024 Regional Head Election Results (PHPU Kada) which were investigated further, the Constitutional Court granted 26 cases, rejected 9 cases, and did not receive 5 cases.