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Coalition of civil society organizations pins hopes for KPU to keep eye on 2024 election
With the 2024 election less than a year away, controversies continue to hound the General Elections Commission (KPU).
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General Elections Commission (KPU) members (left to right) Agus Mellaz, Idham Holik and Mochammad Afifuddin give a press conference in Jakarta, on March 24. They addressed the commission’s appeal against the Central Jakarta District Court’s ruling in favor of the Prima Party’s request to postpone next year’s general election. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
Fikri Harish
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
With the 2024 general election being less than a year away, controversies continue to hound the General Elections Commission (KPU). Observers and election watchdogs have warned that without immediate action, these scandals could start to erode public trust in the election process.
The KPU’s first controversy emerged in December 2022, just as the commission was about to announce the list of parties that would take part in the 2024 legislative elections. On Dec. 13, Themis Indonesia Law Firm, a member of a coalition of civil society organizations to Safeguard the Elections, accused the KPU central branch of manipulating the results of the verification process.
KPU Sangihe, North Sulawesi, member Jeck Stephen Seba alleged that there was an instruction from the commission’s leadership to alter the verification results for several political parties. Jeck accused KPU commissioner Idham Holik of threatening regional KPU members to obey instructions from Jakarta in a national KPU consolidation meeting held in December.
“I’m one of the few members from KPU North Sulawesi to have disobeyed the instructions, and at the time, I felt intimidated by [Idham’s] speech,” Jeck said in a virtual discussion on Sunday.
During a hearing session held by the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) on Feb. 8, Idham defended himself by saying that his remarks were of humorous nature, as evident by the applause and laughter that followed his speech.
