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Calls grow for shift in election format
Hero of democracy: People carry the casket of Sudirdjo, a volunteer of the local poll administrator (KPPS) who died shortly after the election, for burial in Bekasi, West Java, on Tuesday
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ero of democracy: People carry the casket of Sudirdjo, a volunteer of the local poll administrator (KPPS) who died shortly after the election, for burial in Bekasi, West Java, on Tuesday. The Bekasi administration reported that three KPPS members had died, presumably from exhaustion.(Antara/Risky Andrianto)
Indonesia may have won kudos for successfully holding its first-ever concurrent presidential and legislative elections on April 17, but election organizers, watchdogs and some lawmakers have agreed that the new election system is overly complicated.
The new election system, in which voters are required to vote for five candidates on five different ballots on a single day, is under scrutiny following reports that more than 100 election workers presumably died of exhaustion.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has conducted an evaluation of the current format and suggested that the country hold two levels of simultaneous elections: national and regional.
“The national level would consist of the presidential election and the elections for the House of Representatives and the Regional Representative Council [DPD] only, while the regional level would consist of the elections for governors, mayors, regents and members of the regional legislative councils [DPRD],” KPU commissioner Hasyim Asy’ari said on Tuesday.
He argued that such a scheme would make the jobs of election officials and volunteers easier, and also allow voters to think more thoroughly about the candidates they planned to vote for.
“The regional elections should be held in the middle of the five-year period of national elections. For example, if the national elections were in 2019, the regional elections would be in the next 2.5 years or in 2022,” he said.
The proposal has gained the support of election watchdogs.
The 2017 Election Law should be amended to allow the regional legislative elections to be held concurrently with the elections of regional heads, Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) director Titi Anggraini said.
She argued it was the only viable way since the Constitutional Court had ruled that presidential and legislative elections should be held concurrently.
“By dividing them into national elections with only three ballots and regional elections with four ballots, we can overcome some problems in current elections and can encourage voters to be more rational because the number of candidates they have to choose will be significantly reduced,” she said.
Network for Democracy and Electoral Integrity (Netgrit) cofounder Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah concurred with Titi, saying that the concept of simultaneous elections did not necessarily mean we should have five elections on a single day.
He said a revision of the Election Law should clearly define national and regional elections.
The deputy chairman of the House’s Legislation Body (Baleg), Firman Subagyo, said the current election law, which served as a legal basis for the April 17 elections, had proven to be a disaster.
“The current Election Law and the Constitutional Court’s ruling have not benefited the country. They have never been simulated before, and we experienced the impact now. The elections were too exhausting and many people died,” the Golkar politician said.
United Development Party (PPP) lawmaker Achmad Baidowi said it was possible to change the definition of simultaneous elections in the 2017 Election Law without having to breach the court’s ruling.
“There is a possibility we could change the definition through the revision of the Election Law,” he said.
Former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD, who led the court when the ruling on concurrent elections was issued in 2013, backed the calls for a change in the election format.
He tweeted: “The People’s Consultative Assembly decided during the amendment of [the Constitution] that simultaneous elections be held with five ballot boxes [...] But actually simultaneous elections does not mean they are held on the same day.”
Vice President Jusuf Kalla proposed that the presidential and legislative elections be held on different days again.
“Of course there must be a major evaluation. One of the evaluations is to separate the presidential election and legislative election so that the election organizers do not carry a heavy workload,” Jusuf said.
He added that the legislative elections should be a closed proportional system.
“Voters should choose a party only. It will make the vote calculation easier,” he said.
Also on Tuesday, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil handed over compensation money to the families of the election workers who died at Gedung Sate, Bandung.
The West Java administration recorded that at least 49 election workers had died while carrying out their duties since April 10, including 34 election committee group officers, polling officers, district level organizing committee members, KPU officers and 10 Panwaslu officers.“Among them were police officers,” Ridwan said. The families received compensation of Rp 50 million (US$3,540) each. The administration allocated the money from unexpected funds in its budget.
— Suherdjoko and Arya Dipa contribute to this story from Semarang and Bandung.
