TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Researcher of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Usep Hasan Sadikin asked the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) to add a rule in the Pilkada Law regarding single candidates who lose to empty boxes in the 2024 elections may not participate in re-run elections next year.
“This is just adding one provision to answer what states that if the empty box wins, the single candidate who loses cannot participate in the 2025 Pilkada again,” Usep said in a discussion entitled ‘The 2024 Pilkada Phenomenon with or against the Empty Box’ monitored online from Jakarta on Wednesday, September 11, 2024.
He reflected on the village head election where if there is only a single candidate, it is challenged by the existence of bamboo plants where voters can insert sticks or others as a sign of not choosing a single candidate.
“If then the empty barn wins, the village head candidate in the next village head election cannot run again,” said Usep.
The same thing, he said, also happened in the regional head election or re-election of Makassar City. In the 2018 Pilkada, the single Munafri Arifuddin-Andi Rachmatika Dewi (Appi-Cicu) pair lost to an empty box.
When the re-election was held in 2020, Munafri Arifuddin, who was paired with Abdul Rahman Bando, participated in the election and lost to the Danny Pomanto-Fatmawati Rusdi pair. “Those who have proven to lose, why should they participate again,” said Usep.
He also requested that the requirements for nominating regional heads be made easier, especially support for individual or independent channels by reducing the percentage of support. “Just go back to sampling, not a census,” he said.
Re-election held in 2025 if empty box wins
Previously, on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, the Hearing Meeting (RDP) of Commission II of the House of Representatives with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the General Elections Commission (KPU), the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), and the Honorary Board of Election Organizers (DKPP) agreed that re-elections would be held in 2025 if an empty box won against a single candidate in the 2024 elections.
“Regions with elections consisting of only one candidate pair and not getting more than 50 percent of the votes, we agree that the elections will be held again in the following year, 2025, as stipulated in Article 54D of Law Number 10/2016 on Pilkada,” said Chairman of Commission II DPR RI Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tandjung at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Central Jakarta.
Furthermore, the hearing decided that Commission II DPR RI would further discuss with the Ministry of Home Affairs, KPU, Bawaslu, and DKPP regarding the KPU Regulation (PKPU) which regulates the holding of elections with one candidate pair at the upcoming working meeting and hearing.
“We will continue on September 27 for the PKPU draft,” said the Golkar Party politician before closing the hearing.
This article was published on Tempo.co with the title “Perludem Mentions the Need for Rules Regarding the Prohibition of Single Candidates who Lose to Participate in Re-Election, This is the Reason”, https://pemilu.tempo.co/read/1915453/perludem-sebut-perlu-aturan-soal-larangan-calon-tunggal-yang-kalah-ikut-pilkada-ulang-ini-alasannya