Bawaslu Appreciates Regulations to Strengthen EMBs in the Election Law Bill

The Chairman of the Election Monitoring Body (Bawaslu), Muhammad, appreciates the new Bill for the Election Law which, according to him, contains regulations that can strengthen election management bodies (EMBs). He hopes the new regulations will encourage EMBs in Indonesia to improve their performance.

“The Bill for the new Election Law is very supportive to the EMBs. I really grateful to our Government for the Bill,” says Muhammad during a public discussion titled “Implementing High Quality Elections, Critical Examination on the New Election Law Bill” in Jakarta (11/16).

On the other hand, Muhammad also expects the Bill would also contain regulation to simplify law enforcement procedure and institutions. According to Muhammad, the more institutions responsible for law enforcement, the more uncertain our legal certainty will be.

“Actually, the Constitutional Court (MK) has been very reluctant to handle electoral dispute matters. I think it would be better for the government to give Bawaslu the responsibility to handle such cases,” Muhammad says.

Many election activists also expect a new Election Law that can strengthen EMBs. EMBs are expected to be more solid to establish an election system that is fair and free.