Tens Of Trillions Can Be Budgeted For Elections, But The Riau Islands KPU Turns Out It's Been 7 Years Can Only Rent Ruko

JAKARTA - The General Election Commission (KPU) of the Riau Archipelago has been renting a shophouse since 2015 to turn it into an office.

"So we have used this shophouse as an office for seven years. Previously, we borrowed the old RRI Office as an office," said Riau Islands KPU member Priyo Handoko, in Tanjungpinang, Wednesday, June 22, quoted from Antara.

The Riau Islands KPU rented three shop houses located on Jalan Basuki Rahmat as offices in limited conditions. The shophouse was sealed by the owner before being rented.

Staff rooms and meeting rooms, for example, are too cramped. Even the meeting rooms cannot accommodate election participants, as happened in the 2014 election.

"The room in this office is not representative for the 2024 general election," he said.

Apart from a small room, Priyo said that the Riau Islands KPU Office did not have a representative yard for parking vehicles and other activities. The condition was exacerbated by frequent power outages in the past month due to the construction of the "flyover".

"There was a 'flyover' construction which caused the electricity to go out three times in the last month. Then we were disturbed by dust, noise, and vibrations," he said.

On Wednesday, the Chairperson of the Indonesian KPU, Hasyim Asy'ari, together with two of his members, Mochammad Afifudin and Betty Epsilon Idroos, will visit the Riau Islands KPU Office. They are scheduled to have a dialogue with the Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad, one of which discusses the plan to build the Riau Islands KPU Office on Dompak Island, Tanjungpinang.

The Riau Islands KPU had previously conveyed this issue to the Riau Islands Provincial Government and the RI KPU. Then the Riau Islands Provincial Government, when led by Isdianto, prepared land for the Riau Islands KPU Office. But so far it has not been built.

Priyo hopes that the working visit of three RI KPU leaders to Riau Islands can answer the needs of the Riau Islands KPU, one of which is a permanent office in Dompak.

"We hope to move to a permanent office before the 2024 election.

Political and government observer, Endri Sanopaka, said that election organizers needed a permanent representative office. The need for a permanent office should not only be judged from the day of the election or regional election, but also the process of implementing the stages before and after voting, which takes quite a long time.

For example, the 2024 election stage has started since mid-June 2022. During the implementation of the election stage, an office with a representative space is needed because it involves external parties such as political party administrators.

"I think it's time for the election organizers to have a permanent office, don't keep renting shop houses," he said

The General Elections Commission (KPU) explained the details of the budget for the 2024 general election that had been agreed upon. Its value reached Rp76,656,312,294,000 (Rp76.6 trillion). This budget is used for all stages, from 2022 to 2024.

KPU chairman Hasyim Asy'ari explained that the political contestation budget in 2024 was divided into stages of RP63.4 trillion or 82.71 percent of the total budget. Meanwhile, the rest is for stage support of Rp. 13.2 trillion or 17.29 percent of the total budget.

"For the staged activities of IDR 63.4 trillion, starting from the election stage, ad hoc fees, logistics, and voter education socialization," said Hasyim at the KPU office, Monday, May 30.