The 2024 Regional Election Campaign Rules Still Need Improvement

The Indonesian Institute (TII) views that improving campaign regulations in the 2024 Pilkada is necessary to increase integrity and public trust in elections, so that through clearer and stricter regulations, regional election competition can run more healthily. TII believes that the General Election Commission (KPU) needs to improve campaign regulations in KPU Regulation 15/2023 concerning campaigns ahead of the 2024 regional elections because there are still many shortcomings.

“The KPU must be proactive in involving various stakeholders in policy formulation, in particular improving campaign regulations, especially for the 2024 Pilkada,” said TII Political Researcher Felia Primaresti in an online discussion entitled “The Urgency of Improving Campaign Regulations Towards the 2024 Pilkada” (27/6).

Based on its findings, TII noted that at least campaign regulations had problems related to the implementation of participation in policy formulation. Even though several related parties had been invited and asked for their opinions, based on the findings, input from several related parties was rarely and never even considered. According to TII, the KPU often only listens to DPR Commission 2 to shorten time.

Furthermore, according to Felia, the campaign rules were also seen as unclear and not in line with the interpretations of other stakeholders. This then resulted in confusion and polemics among the parties concerned.

Apart from that, he also views the KPU as having not fully adhered to a strong commitment to transparency and accountability in the implementation of elections. These two things are very important as a basis because, without transparency and accountability, policy products will not receive optimal input from other parties.

“This can be seen from the limited access to discussion results, notes, and minutes that can be accessed by the public,” explained Felia.

In the aspect of policy implementation, TII assesses that the KPU’s socialization has not been carried out optimally because it only socializes policy products to election participants. However, it is also important to socialize it with civil society members who are concerned about elections.

“The absence of protests from election participants does not mean the success of the KPU regulations,” he said. []