The General Election Commission (KPU) and university authorities must ensure equal treatment for all election participants in campus campaigns. This is a follow-up to the Constitutional Court Decision Number 65/PUU-XXI/2023, which allows educational institutions to be used as one of the campaign venues.
"One of the things we urge the KPU to do is to ensure that educational institutions are required to provide equal opportunities. If they want to provide opportunities, it must be managed fairly," said the Program Manager of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) during the online discussion "Campaigning on Campus: The Right Step for Political Education of Youth Voters?" (9/25).
Fadli is concerned about the issue of equal campaign opportunities on campuses. According to him, as educational institutions are also led by rectors, there is a possibility of political bias. In this case, political preferences can influence the policy of granting campaign permits on campus.
Furthermore, Fadli explained that campaigning in educational institutions is not something entirely new. Previously, it was allowed with the condition that permission was obtained and campaign attributes were not brought into the premises.
The prohibition of campaigning in educational institutions is indeed present in the Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Election. However, in the article's explanation, campaigning in educational institutions is allowed under certain conditions.
"The Constitutional Court withdrew this explanation into a provision in the Election Law article. The only thing that was completely prohibited were campaigns in places of worship," said Fadli.
AJID FUAD MUZAKI
Translated by Catherine Natalia
