By : Sabrina Aulia )*
The success of the Regional Head Election (Pilkada) does not only depend on the integrity of the Election organizers and participants, but is also greatly influenced by the active participation of the community in overseeing every stage of the process.
Active community participation in overseeing the Pilkada stages is the main key to ensuring that the election process runs transparently and accountably. By monitoring, the public can prevent potential fraud, vote manipulation, or other violations that could damage the integrity of the regional elections.
Community involvement in every stage of the regional elections can improve the quality of democracy itself. When the public is involved in the election process, they not only act as voters, but also as observers who ensure that the elections are carried out in accordance with the principles of clean, honest and fair democracy.
Pilkada often creates high political tension and has the potential to trigger social conflict. The presence of the community as supervisors can help reduce potential conflicts by ensuring that every process runs in accordance with established rules and minimizing provocation or agitation that can divide the community.
When the community is involved in overseeing the Pilkada stages, they also encourage wider political participation. This is important to ensure that elections truly reflect the will of the people, where the people’s voice is the main determinant in choosing competent and responsible leaders.
The 2024 regional elections will be held through several stages that have been determined by the General Election Commission (KPU). Such as preparation and planning, candidate registration, campaign period, voting, vote counting and determining results, and dispute resolution.
The Surabaya City General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) invites the public to actively participate in monitoring every stage of the 2024 Pilkada. The Coordinator of the Prevention, Community Participation and Public Relations Division (Kordiv) of Bawaslu Surabaya, Syafiudin, said that his party cannot act alone in carrying out supervision.
He said that it would be weak if supervision only depended on or was delegated to Bawaslu. Needs participation from the community. Community participation can be done in various ways. Starting from individual and group supervision of certain organizations.
Or by becoming an observer who officially participates in the election or independently monitoring the process stages in the 2024 Pilkada. If during the ongoing monitoring the public finds violations, they can immediately report it to the Bawaslu office or telephone via the Bawaslu hotline.
If what is reported is complete with evidence, it will be processed by Bawaslu. And if the evidence is still incomplete in the report, it will be used as initial information.
On that occasion, his party stated that there were several potential vulnerabilities in the 2024 Pilkada, namely starting from the neutrality of the State Civil Apparatus (ASN), money politics to the issue of Re-Voting (PSU).
In Surabaya, the mapping departs from analysis of data from the 2020 election and also the 2024 election. The most vulnerable and highest level of vulnerability today is the voting time and recapitulation.
With the efforts made by various stakeholders, it is hoped that the future regional elections can run smoothly at every stage. The hope is that the community can participate in carrying out participatory supervision, so that later it can be anticipated and violations will not occur. The public is the owner of voting rights to participate in executive elections, in this case the regional elections which will be held simultaneously in November 2024.
Bawaslu member Lolly Suhenty invited the public to take part in participatory supervision, namely efforts to collect data, information, and record findings related to the implementation of the Regional Elections, especially by independent and non-partisan groups or organizations. The aim is to realize honest, fair, clean and transparent regional elections, so that the results can be accepted by all parties.
All stages of regional elections have vulnerable points that require monitoring, for example campaigns when the public must be alert to potential violations, intimidation, the spread of hoax news, and the non-neutrality of state civil servants. This supervision is not only the responsibility of Bawaslu, but also requires community support.
Pontianak Bawaslu member Isfiansyah said the use of information technology could also be the key to optimizing supervision. This way, violation reporting can be done in real-time.
Strict participatory supervision minimizes the potential for fraud. This will certainly ensure that the election process takes place honestly and fairly.
Optimal monitoring will increase public confidence in election results and ensure that the people’s voices are truly represented. Apart from that, it is also to maintain transparency and accountability at every stage of the election.
With the active participation of the community, it is hoped that the 2024 simultaneous regional elections can be held safely, peacefully and democratically. The community has a vital role in overseeing the stages of the 2024 Pilkada. With the active involvement of the community, the Pilkada process can be more transparent, accountable and democratic. Apart from that, community participation is also important in preventing conflict and ensuring that elections truly reflect the will of the people. Therefore, it is important for every individual to actively participate in every stage of the regional elections in order to maintain the quality of democracy in Indonesia.
)* The author is a political observer