Ihsanuddin, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) have found 310 cases of alleged violations in the 2024 elections.
"In general terms, we found as many as 310 incidents of alleged fraud covering violations of neutrality, vote manipulation, use of state facilities by candidates, money politics and other forms of fraud", said Kontras Deputy Coordinator Andi Muhammad Rezaldy in a written statement on Friday February 23.
Rezaldy said that some fraud was structural because it involved officials such as election organisers, government officials or state civil servants.
For example, the mobilisation of village officials to support candidate pair number 2, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, through the United Villages declaration which was held on December 17, 2023.
"Aside from that, the mobilisation of village heads to elect 02 where various threats by village association officials also occurred, as was the case with village heads in Ngawi [regency in East Java]", said Rezaldy.
These mobilisation also occurred from lower levels up to the Polling Station Organising Committees (KPPS). There were 34 cases of alleged fraud involving KPPS members that have been revealed to the public.
"Based on the points explained above, we consider it appropriate for the public to question the election results, starting from the process itself that is suspected of being fraudulent and problematic", he added.
"Furthermore, we consider that the KPU [General Elections Commission] did not maximally carry out its responsibilities as the election organiser, on the other hand the Bawaslu [Election Supervisory Body] in its capacity as the election supervisor, appears to be dysfunctional. Therefore, we also consider that the 2024 elections can be categorised as the worst election in the reformasi era", asserted Rezaldy, referring to the political reform process that began in 1998.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Kontras Temukan 310 Dugaan Kecurangan Pemilu, Libatkan Aparat".]