There Are Many Gaps In The Election Law, The Task Of Bawaslu Is Getting Tougher

The task of the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) in the 2024 General Election is considered to be increasingly heavy because Law No. 7 of 2017 concerning elections has many loopholes that can be used to avoid accusations of election fraud.

Deputy Chairperson of the Setara Institute, Bonar Tigor Naipospos, believes that the text of the Election Law is still ambiguous. One of them is that if there is no statement of direct support at an event attended by one of the pairs of candidates in the 2024 presidential election, it is not considered a violation.

He gave an example, the United Village National Gathering event at the Indonesia Arena, some time ago which was attended by vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka. The activity held by eight village head associations who are members of the United Village is called the Deputy Chairperson of the Steering Committee of TKN Prabowo-Gibran, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, not including a form of support for the Prabowo-Gibran pair.

The reason is that village officials only express their aspirations and hopes, and do not declare their support. In fact, said Bonar, what was done by a number of village apparatus organizations clearly showed partiality to one candidate. Moreover, the facts on the ground were found in a number of attributes with the Prabowo-Gibran pair number.

"The problem is that there are many loopholes in the Election Law. If there is no statement of immediate support, it is not considered a violation. These are the holes in our legislation that are always used by smart parties, including what happened in the Constitutional Court," said Bonar in his statement, Sunday, November 26.

According to him, the existing laws are now made by smart people, both in the executive and legislature. Because they know the rules will apply to them when competing for power. Meanwhile, public participation, both academics and civil groups, will be minimized.

With the high level of oligarchy interest in the 2024 General Election, Bawaslu's task will be even more severe. Because, each competing party will take advantage of the loopholes in the rules. Bawaslu's firmness by providing interpretations and presentations of what is the rule of the game becomes important, because if there is no potential for fraud, especially those involving government institutions will become open," Bonar said.