The Pyramid of EMBs’ Responsibility: KPU at Regency/Municipality Has the Biggest Responsibility

Elections management bodies (EMBs), especially the Election Commission (KPU), have a responsibility allocation scheme that represents a pyramid. KPU at regency/municipality level has the biggest responsibility compared to KPU at province and national level.

In the context of concurrent elections, especially for the 2024 National Elections, KPUs at regency/municipality will be having the responsibilities to run five types of elections: presidential elections, national legislative elections, local legislative elections, lower-house of the parliament elections, and local elections to elect local head of administrative.

“KPUs at regency/municipality level have the responsibility to manage five elections concurrently, while KPU at national level will only have three elections. This will be a great challenge for regency/municipality KPU. Therefore, it’s counter-productive for the government to change the employment structure of regency/municipality KPU,” says Titi Anggraini, the Executive Director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), during a public discussion “Establishing EMBs with Integrity” in Jakarta (05/08).

Titi argues that it is a mistake for the government to change the employment status of officers at regency/municipality KPU from regular employer into ad hoc committees. It is because those officers do not necessarily idle during non-election period because they have to do many tasks, such as updating data on voters, educating voters, and managing the electoral archive in every regency/municipality.

The Secretary General of the Independent Committee of Elections Observers (KIPP), Kaka Suminta, says, the idea to turn regular KPU employees into ad hoc committees is inconsistent with Article 22 of the Constitution of 1945 which states that elections shall be run and managed by institutions that are nation-wide, independent, and permanent.

Kaka says, election officers at the regency/municipality KPU have the responsibility to draw up electoral budget at least two years before the election begins.

“I can’t imagine ad hoc committees will be able to do such task properly. There will be chaos in regency/municipality elections if we allow non-regular officers to do that task,” says Kaka.