Fachrul Sidiq, Jakarta – All segments of society should more actively participate in the assessment process of General Elections Commission (KPU) and Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) commissioner candidates, a watchdog coalition says.
To accommodate public participation, a coalition of several election watchdogs have launched an information center designated to gather information from the public regarding the track records of shortlisted candidates, who are currently being reviewed by a selection team formed by the Home Affairs Ministry.
"The selected commissioners will play an important role in ensuring the quality of upcoming simultaneous elections. Thus, input from the public on the candidates is needed," Association for Election and Democracy (Perludem) researcher Heroik Pratama said on Tuesday, referring to upcoming regional elections in February and the 2019 presidential and legislative elections.
Perludem is one of seven organizations, including Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Peoples Voters Education Network (JPPR), in the coalition.
The selection team is currently reviewing 36 and 22 candidates to fill commissioner posts at the KPU and Bawaslu, respectively. The team is scheduled to submit the best 14 KPU and 10 Bawaslu commissioner candidates to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo by Jan. 25, before a screening process at the House of Representatives' Commission II, overseeing home affairs.
In the final screening, House members will select seven KPU and five Bawaslu commissioners. The list of candidates can be found at kemendagri.go.id, the ministry's official website.Meanwhile, ICW researcher Almas Sjafrina said the coalition needed information on candidates' track records, political affiliations and electoral expertise. The public can give input via email [email protected] or a text message to 087888562428 or 081318031759, she added.
Almas said information gathered would be later submitted to members of the selection team in the hope that it would enhance their judgment in selecting the candidates.
"We have deployed 30 people in 20 provinces to directly seek firsthand information about the candidates. Public participation is equally important so as to have more references and information," she said. (ebf)