Vitorio Mantalean, Jakarta – The Civil Society Coalition for Monitoring Clean Elections has demanded that the General Election Commission (KPU) conduct an audit of its Political Party Information System (Sipol) following alleged cheating during the political party factual variation process by KPU officials.
Based on reports, election organisers in the regions were forced to change the status of several political parties in the Sipol from "Failed to meet the requirements" (TMS) to "Requirements Met" (MS) as participants in the 2024 elections.
"The first (demand) is a massive audit of the Sipol and openly and transparently conveying [the results] to the public. That is what we are waiting for", said Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Kurnia Ramadhana during a virtual press conference on Sunday December 18.
Ramadhana said that an audit of the Sipol is necessary to see whether or not there are indications of alterations to political party data which are not in accordance with the system's stipulations.
Through an audit, the various changes to data which are irrelevant can be seen and recorded in the system if there was actually any cheating.
"So the response is an audit of the Sipol, so that changes on specific dates can be seen. Because the system is digitally based, so certainly every change to data and its history can be seen, from there we will match up the data with the KPU nationally", said Ramadhana.
The second demand put forward by the Coalition meanwhile is for the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission II to immediately summon the KPU. Through a summons, the DPR can ask for an explanation and clarification on the Coalition's findings as a way of pursuing its supervision mandate.
If violations or manipulation of the political party (parpol) factual verification process is found, they are asking the DPR to use its authority under article 38 Paragraph 1b of Law Number 7/2017 on General Elections.
"If then violations or cheating are found in the parpol factual verification process, we are urging the DPR's Commission II to use its authority, the DPR's Commission II has the authority to recommend that KPU members who are suspected of cheating [be removed and prosecuted]", said Ramadhana.
Their third demand meanwhile is directed to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. They are asking Widodo to ensure that the organisation of the 2024 elections is not stained by practices of intimidation, cheating, corruption and manipulation.
"This is important as concrete evidence of the government's commitment to ensure elections that are clean, objective and independent, and prioritise the values of integrity", said Ramadhana.
Based on the Coalitions' findings, there was alleged cheating by regional election organisers in 12 regencies and seven provinces related to the political party factual verification process.
National level KPU members are alleged to have pressured provincial KPU offices through a video call to change the status of several political parties that had initially failed the factual verification process.
Unfortunately, the plan was upset because several regional KPU members – both at the provincial as well as regency and municipal level – refused to follow the instructions.
Because of this, the national KPU changed its strategy and pursued the plan though the national KPU General Secretariat (Sekjen).
The KPU General Secretariat instructed the provincial secretaries to make the same changes. This was done by having the provincial secretaries instruct Sipol operators both at the provincial, regency and municipal level to change the factual verification status of the political parties from TMS to MS.
The allege practice was also accompanied by threats that KPU officials who failed to follow the instructions would be transferred. For those who complied with the instructions meanwhile, they were offered enticements such as promotions or being chosen during the election of as provincial, regency or municipal KPU members in 2023.
Notes
According to a report by the Jakarta Post, the political parties that initially failed but then passed the verification include newcomers the Gelora Party, the Nusantara Awakening Party (PKN) and the Garuda Party. It is alleged that Gelora Party had its eligibility falsified because it is a rival of the Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), having been formed following a split within the PKS in 2019. Likewise the PKN is likely to rival the Democrat Party as many of its members were drawn away from the Democrats. The PKS and the Democrats are not part of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s ruling coalition and position themselves as the parliamentary opposition. The Garuda Party meanwhile has been deeply involved in the judicial reviews filed against the Elections Law at the Constitutional Court, one of which resulted in allowing government ministers to run as election candidates.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Koalisi Masyarakat Sipil Minta KPU Audit Sipol Karena Terindikasi Curang".]
