Jakarta – It is unfortunate for the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Baswaslu) that they have made a bad start to their historic task of safeguarding the country's hard-won democracy in the 2024 presidential, legislative and regional elections.

Receiving the mandate to organize free and fair elections that will define Indonesia's future, the new KPU and Bawaslu commissioners will carry baggage, due to the procedural flaws that have called the legitimacy of their selection last week into question. House of Representatives Commission II overseeing home affairs confirmed seven KPU and five Bawaslu members through consensus that smacked of horse-trading among the political elite, rather than the standard mechanism of voting.

Beyond the election process, almost all of the newly confirmed commissioners have a track record of working in the KPU and Bawaslu at a national or regional level, with the exception of a new KPU commissioner who used to work for a nongovernmental poll watchdog.

With the previous experience of the confirmed officials, it is expected that they can hit the ground running after they are sworn into office by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. The fact that there is an incumbent from the KPU and Bawaslu, respectively, in the line-up of the new officials will hopefully smooth the transition process and provide a platform of continuity from the current leaderships.

However, reports of lobbying that marred the confirmation process in the House are alarming.

Before the 12 commissioners were endorsed by the House's plenary session, Commission II held hearing sessions between Monday and Thursday to whittle down the 24 candidates who were proposed to the House by a government-formed selection committee.

The sessions were scheduled to end on Wednesday but were extended to early on Thursday after what was supposed to be a short break turned into more than an hour of closed-door deliberation as lawmakers opted to adopt a consensus approach, as opposed to voting, to confirm the new poll officials.

The closed-door mechanism is a blatant violation of the transparency and accountability that should have prevailed in the confirmation process, with the public largely left in the dark over how the decisions were made to select the candidates to lead the KPU and Bawaslu.

In addition, election watchdogs have scrutinized the circulation of broadcast messages before the confirmation hearings that contained the names of the 12 potential candidates who were all later proven to be the ones selected.

The series of irregularities has served to further reinforce suspicions of back-room deals in the confirmation process that will undermine public trust in the KPU and Bawaslu. This in turn could also hurt the integrity of the upcoming elections.

The lawmakers' decision to go for a consensus mechanism to confirm the new KPU and Bawaslu commissioners was at best an anomaly, if not a setback, as it contravened our democratic electoral spirit in which every vote counts.

The new KPU and Bawaslu commissioners will have a tough job ahead of them to prepare the landmark 2024 elections. Such a Herculean task will undoubtedly become harder amid the potential deficit of public faith in the new commissioners.

Now, the onus is on the new commissioners to live up to the high expectations placed on their shoulders and ensure that we will have free and fair elections in 2024.

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2022/02/21/safeguarding-democracy.htm