The Election Organizers Honorary Council (Dewan Kehormatan Penyelenggara Pemilu or DKPP) has once again held a hearing for Case Number 110-PKE-DKPP/IX/2023 regarding allegations of an ethical code violation against seven members of the General Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum or KPU). This violation is related to the incorrect calculation of the minimum 30% quota for female candidates for the DPR/DPRD members in Article 8, Paragraph (2) of PKPU 10/2023. According to the Supreme Court's ruling, this provision has been found to be in violation of Law 7/2017. Therefore, the complainant has requested that DKPP impose sanctions on the dismissal of seven KPU members.
"We request DKPP to investigate and make a decision regarding the violations of the principles of independence, honesty, professionalism, accountability, fairness, and transparency committed by the Accused. Furthermore, we urge that permanent dismissal sanctions be imposed on the Accused," stated Iwan Misthohizzaman, the Executive Director of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) Indonesia, who serves as the complainant during the hearing in Jakarta on September 22nd.
The complainant's legal counsel, Muhammad Ihsan Maulana, is demanding the KPU to revise Article 8, Paragraph 2 of KPU Regulation Number 10 of 2023. This article deals with the calculation of 30 percent of women legislative candidates in each electoral district. It specifies that if the result of the calculation yields a fractional number, and if the two decimal places after the decimal point are less than 50, the calculation should be rounded down.
Furthermore, Ihsan explained that in the Supreme Court's ruling, the KPU was required to round up in the PKPU. This rounding up is aimed at ensuring that the women representation as legislative candidates is met at a minimum of 30 percent in every district.
"The Supreme Court decision has not been executed by the accused 1 to accused 7 until today. Considering that this action constitutes a very serious violation, namely the failure to fulfill the principles of independence, honesty, professionalism, and legal certainty," said Ihsan.
The complainant explained that PKPU 10/2023 has an impact on the nomination of women in thousands of electoral districts spread across 38 provinces. This has violated the principle of fairness as outlined in Article 6, Paragraph 2, Letter C, Article 10, Letters A, B, C, and D of the Election Organizers Honorary Council (DKPP) Regulation Number 2 of 2017 on the Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Election Organizers.
The accused individuals in the alleged ethical code violation are seven members of the KPU. One of them, who also serves as the Chair of the KPU, is Hasyim Asy'ari. The other six members of the KPU are Idham Holik, August Mellaz, Yulianto Sudrajat, Betty Epsilon Idroos, Parsadaan Harahap, and Mochammad Afifuddin.
The complainant is a group called Koalisi Masyarakat Peduli Keterwakilan Perempuan [the Concerned Society Coalition for Women's Representation]. This coalition consists of Mikewati Vera Tangka, the Secretary-General of Koalisi Perempuan Indonesia [the Indonesian Women's Coalition]; Listyowati, the Chair of Kalyanamitra Foundation; Misthohizzaman, the Executive Director of INFID; Wirdyaningsih, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, and a member of the Bawaslu RI for the 2008-2012 period; and Hadar Nafis Gumay, the Executive Director of the Network for Democracy and Electoral Integrity (Netgrit). []
Translated by Catherine Natalia
