The Proposed Postponement Of The 2024 Election Is Worried To Erode Democracy

Illustrations/VOI

PURWOKERTO - Political Observer at Jenderal Soedirman University (Unsoed) Purwokerto Ahmad Sabiq, said that the proposed postponement of the 2024 election schedule for 1 or 2 years is feared to undermine democracy in the country.

"The proposal to postpone the election without an emergency reason is feared to undermine democracy even though it looks legal and constitutional and on the pretext of being in the public interest," he said in Purwokerto, Central Java, as reported by Antara, Friday, February 25.

In addition, he said, delaying the election could be said to violate the constitution, which stipulates that elections are held every five years.

"Although the constitution can be amended, I think it is feared that it will lead to the erosion of democracy," he said.

The lecturer at FISIP Unsoed assessed that the preparation and stages of the election could be carried out amidst efforts to recover the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"If you look at the resources of the election organizers and experience in the implementation of the 2019 general election, preparation for the 2024 election should be able to run well in the midst of economic recovery efforts," he said.

Sabiq said the 2024 election would be able to run according to targets and expectations as long as it was carried out with good governance.

"Thus, the momentum for economic improvement will not be lost and concerns about the economic freeze can be circumvented so as not to cause an economic freeze, while preparing for the 2024 General Election," he said.

Meanwhile, he also reminded again that the socialization of the 2024 General Election must be intensified in order to increase the number of people's participation.

"There are still about two years to carry out the socialization of the election, there is enough time to socialize and prepare for all stages to make a breakthrough at the time of implementation," he said.

He added that election socialization needs to target all groups including vulnerable groups, people living in remote areas as well as the millennial generation or novice voters.

Meanwhile, as previously announced, the Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Muhaimin Iskandar, proposed delaying the schedule for the 2024 General Election for 1 year or 2 years so that the momentum for economic improvement would not be lost and there would be no economic freeze.

According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred for 2 years resulted in stagnation, even a decline in the national economy. However, in recent times, there has been a positive trend of economic improvement.

"I accept MSME actors, business people, and economic analysts from various banks, many important inputs, basically our economic prospects are post-pandemic. From all these inputs, I propose that the 2024 election be postponed for 1 or 2 years," said Muhaimin at the DPR RI Building, Jakarta, Wednesday, February 23.