Bawaslu: The COVID-19 Pandemic Causes The 2020 Regional Elections To Increase

Voting illustration (mohammed_hassan / Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has launched the latest 2020 Pilkada Election Vulnerability Index (IKP). As a result, Bawaslu noted that the level of vulnerability in the 2020 Pilkada increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bawaslu member M Afifuddin said, in updating the index, Bawaslu included the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred during the past few months in Indonesia.

"This pandemic has greatly affected the implementation of regional elections," Afifuddin said in a press conference on the Launching of Regional Head Election Supervision and the 2020 Election Vulnerability Mapping Update which was broadcast on the Bawaslu RI YouTube account, Tuesday, June 23.

He explained, at the latest IKP Pilkada 2020 per June, there were 27 districts / cities that were indicated as being highly vulnerable in the context of a pandemic.

These areas are Makassar City, Bone Bolango Regency, Bulungan Regency, Karawang Regency, Manado City, North Minahasa Regency, Tomohon City, and Gowa Regency.

Furthermore, Sijunjung Regency, Sungai Penuh City, Tasikmalaya Regency, Lamongan Regency, East Kotawaringin Regency, Banjarbaru City, Ternate City, Depok City, South Tangerang City, Semarang City, Bantul Regency, and Melawi Regency.

In addition, there are 146 districts / cities indicated as being prone to being in the context of a pandemic and 88 districts / cities that are in a low risk point.

Aspects that are measured in the context of a pandemic, include the Pilkada budget related to COVID-19, data related to COVID-19, local government support, community resistance to regional elections, and obstacles to election supervision due to the spread of the virus.

Another thing that stands out in a pandemic situation is the local infrastructure context. In this context, said Afif, Bawaslu measured it in two aspects, namely support for information technology in the regions and information systems owned by election organizers.

"In the context of regional infrastructure, there are no districts / cities that are low-prone. 117 districts / cities are indicated as high-prone and 144 are moderate," he said.

Bawaslu, continued Afif, also updated the vulnerability in the political context in the implementation of the 2020 Pilkada at the district / city level.

Aspects that are measured in this context are the alignments of the election organizers, the recruitment of problematic election administrators, the non-neutrality of ASN, and misuse of the budget.

The results of the study stated that as many as 50 districts / cities were in a high level of vulnerability in the political context, and 211 districts / cities were in moderate vulnerability. "There are no areas that are at a low level of vulnerability," he said.

As for the social context, Bawaslu measures aspects of security disturbances such as natural disasters and social disasters as well as aspects of violence or intimidation to organizers.

In this context, 40 districts / cities are at a high risk point and 221 districts / cities are at moderate risk. None of the areas indicated as low prone.

Meanwhile, at the provincial level, of the 9 provinces that held pilkada, 3 areas indicated that they were highly vulnerable in the context of a pandemic, namely South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and North Sulawesi.

Meanwhile, 2 provinces are indicated to be low-prone in the context of a pandemic, namely West Sumatra and Riau Islands. And 4 provinces are at medium vulnerability points, namely Central Sulawesi, North Kalimantan, Bengkulu, and Jambi.

In the social context, 7 provinces are in moderate vulnerability, namely West Sumatra, Jambi, South Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Riau Islands, and Bengkulu. Meanwhile, 2 provinces in moderate vulnerability are North Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan.

Based on these findings, Bawaslu then recommended 5 things to do in the 2020 Pilkada on December 9.

"First, all stakeholders in organizing the Pilkada ensure that organizers, supporting participants and voters apply health protocols in the implementation of the factual verification stages of individual candidates and updating voter data," said Afif.

Furthermore, coordination of the parties in the disclosure of information related to the implementation of Pilkada and the development of the COVID-19 ondisi in each region must be carried out.

Stakeholders or organizers of the 2020 Pilkada must also ensure budget support for the procurement of personal protective equipment.

Then, they must also maintain the independence of government officials from abuse of authority and the budget for overcoming COVID-19 and be able to apply the use of information technology in accordance with geographical conditions and the obstacles experienced by election organizers in each region.