In the Hearing Meeting (RDP) on September 21, 2020, the Government, DPR, and election organizers agreed that the local elections will still be held on December 9, 2020. One of the points of agreement in the RDP is anticipating the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the occurrence of health protocol violations by revising PKPU No.10/2020. In revising the PKPU, one of them emphasized the arrangement of recapitulation of calculation results through electronic recapitulation (e-recap). The question is, are we ready?
E-recap is one of the recommendations on our election problems, especially related to the buying and selling of votes that often appear in the recapitulation stages of the vote that has been done manually and tiered. Pratama and Salabi in the book Application of Levy-Counting Technology published by The International IDEA and Perludem (2019) mention that e-recap technology is useful for: (1) increasing transparency through electronic transmission of election results at polling stations; (2) display and visualize the election results in the recapitulation center; (3) open election data to the media and other stakeholders in real time.
In fact, KPU Period 2017-2022 has issued a road map on the application of technology in elections in Indonesia. The recommendation is to apply an e-recap.
But something considered ideal would not be ideal in its application if it was not well prepared. Applying technology in elections can not be tried, let alone decided in a short time.
The International IDEA (2019) makes the stages that need to be considered in applying technology in the election, namely the assessment stage, procurement stage, and application stage. Running these stages certainly can not be in a short time. There needs to be a clear and detailed time frame that contains achievements that must be met in every planning, procurement, pilot project, and implementation process. Meanwhile, the time leading up to polling day is only three months away. Procurement of technology devices also can not be done in a short time, the procurement process must be transparent, certified, and also have gone through a series of system tests.
Election Experience 2019
The process of recapitulation of vote counting in the 2019 elections is carried out manually and in stages. But KPU has a Counting System (Situng) application as an effort of the KPU to publish the election results quickly. Situng is used only as a comparison, not as an official result. Although not as an official result, Situng's problem made the public question the performance of the KPU, even those who questioned the difficulty of the election results.
This should be a lesson for the KPU. Applying technology in elections can not be rushed. Especially if the e-recap will be the official result of the election. The thing that needs to be considered is that the technology that will be used will gain the public's trust. If there is no public trust then the election results could be legitimized.
To be able to gain public trust, the thing that is needed is the professionalism of the election organizers. The professionalism of the organizers of this election will be established if there is comprehensive training for staff who will be involved in the electronic recapitulation process.
KPU has done electronic recapitulation simulation for the 2020 elections, but this simulation has not been done massively and has only been done in big cities such as Jakarta and Depok. This is certainly still not maximum if later electronic recapitulation will be applied in 270 regions that will hold the 2020 regional elections. Moreover, supporting infrastructure in each region varies.
No less important is to socialize to all election stakeholders. The goal is for election stakeholders to understand how technology devices are used.
Organizing elections in the middle of a pandemic is not easy. There needs to be enough time to prepare the technicality of the election.
The required level of regulation is the regulation at the level of the law. The use of e-recap and its results as an official determinant, can not only rely on PKPU only.
If situng e-recap as a result of comparison alone can be much questioned by the public, moreover e-recap will be used as the official result of the election. Everything can't be decided in a short time.
E-recap as part of anticipating the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is indeed important. Also important, elections are not just a five-year routine. The quality of democracy in elections should also not be overlooked. []
KHOIRUNNISA NUR AGUSTYATI
Executive Director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem)
