Hadar Nafis Gumay: The Election Organizing Recruitment System Must Be Tightened

Hadar Nafis Gumay assessed that there were problems from election organizers which made the implementation of the Indonesian Election continuously problematic. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Director of Network for Democracy and Electoral Integrity (Netgrit) Hadar Nafis Gumay assesses that there are problems from election organizers which make the implementation of the Indonesian Election continuously problematic.

According to him, the success of an election is very dependent on the organizers themselves. If the organizers work well according to the applicable regulations, then the election can be said to be successful.

"How come our election continues to have problems? So this is something we have to look for the answer. Maybe there are problems with the implementation. I see that the problem does exist," he said, Sunday, March 9, 2025.

Therefore, Hadar urged that the electoral management recruitment system be tightened. Moreover, reflecting on the Constitutional Court's decision on the PSU Pilkada in 24 regions, it shows that there was a fatal negligence from the organizers.

"So, we have a situation, indeed in our election we need to think about later how we can get election organizers who are really not only professionals but have high integrity and can actually work independently. That's what we need to look for in the future," he added.

The former KPU commissioner can also understand the statement of the Deputy Chairman of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Dede Yusuf, who admitted that the 2024 simultaneous elections were the most brutal and transactional elections. Hadar assessed that there is indeed a need for a revision of the Election Law, which is not only a system of counting methods, electoral districts and threshold problems, as well as the increasing potential for money politics and improvement in the recruitment of election organizers.

"That's if we all want elections that are more qualified, instead of getting worse," he continued.