By: Alfisyah Dianasari
Covid-19 pandemic is indeed not yet over, health protocols must continue to be applied in every activity outside the home. One of them is the implementation of the Simultaneous Local Election which will be held in 2020.
Members of the Election Oversight Body (Bawaslu) explained that there were a number of principles for the implementation of the elections in the ‘New Normal’ era due to the covid-19 pandemic. First is the protection of life and maximum health security for all parties involved in the implementation of the elections starting from upstream to downstream stages of the elections. Safety issues are not negotiable.
It does not want a cluster of elections. He also wants the availability of an adaptive legal framework but remains accountable in the implementation of the elections. “This legal framework is pro on the safety and health of all parties.
Furthermore, namely the availability of timely budget and logistical support, of course, to comply with the health protocol, each polling station must provide hand sanitizers or hand washing facilities, so that people who will vote can wash their hands before and after entering the polls.
Meanwhile, KPU I Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi, a member of the Regional Election, said that during the pandemic, there were certainly health standards that had to be adopted to keep democracy and government running, while protecting the people’s safety and security.
He said that the Commission was designing PKPU related to the management of the application of information technology. In the future, in order to deal with a changing situation, adjustments must be made in that direction. In addition, in order to adopt a health protocol, the Commission has coordinated with the Ministry of Health and BNPB and other related parties to obtain input on how health standards in governance in the implementation of the elections later.
Depok is one of the cities in West Java that will hold simultaneous local elections in December 2020. Nana Shobarna as the Chairperson of the Depok City KPU said, even though in the midst of the pandemic his party was very ready to hold all stages of the elections that had been scheduled by the government.
In an interview on air on the radio, Nana stated that she must be very careful, and must be very careful in complying with the health protocol provisions as outlined.
Nana explained, in addition to providing education and socialization to the officers, her party also began to educate and socialize related to health protocols in the elections in the midst of a pandemic.
Of course this is a challenge for the Depok KPU, because before that he had never held activities in the middle of a pandemic.
Although in the midst of a pandemic, Nana ensured that her side would work hard to succeed the Simultaneous Regional Election 2020 in Depok City even though it was in the midst of a co-19 pandemic.
He also wants depok residents in Depok or outside Depok to participate in the successful running of the elections in December 2020.
Besides Depok, Bandung Regency will also hold the Simultaneous Local Election in 2020. The coordinator of supervision and relations between Bandung Regency Bawaslu institutions, Hedi Ardia, said that the actual implementation of the elections in the midst of this pandemic did not change much in principle.
Hedi said, there were only elements added, namely the attention to health protocols such as organizers, elections, participants and voters had to pay attention to the Covid-19 health protocol, such as the use of masks, hand washing and officers were required to use personal protective equipment such as faceshield.
He said, for the socialization itself, more would be done online or online, but not all face-to-face activities would be eliminated.
He hoped, in principle, even though this Pilkada should be held in the middle of a pandemic, this did not reduce the quality of democracy including voter turnout.
With the increase in the number of positive covid patients recovering, of course this shows that national agendas such as simultaneous local elections can be carried out without forgetting strict health protocols.
Indonesia was born with a spirit of democracy, of course the spirit of democracy must be maintained by continuing to hold a democratic party.
Socialization also needs to be encouraged by the government on a massive scale, education related to the implementation of elections with the implementation of health protocols must continue to be encouraged, so that people have an understanding in implementing health protocols during the elections.
)* The writer is a citizen, living in Depok