Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian on Wednesday told the General Election Commission (KPU) on Wednesday to make sure the 2024 election runs smoothly, while keeping the budget minimum.

The 2024 election budget is estimated at Rp 110.4 trillion ($7.6 billion).

KPU has revised its proposed budget of Rp 86 trillion to Rp 76.6 trillion. The Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has a budget of Rp 33.8 trillion to oversee the 2024 election.

"This is a huge jump from the 2014 and 2019 election [budget]. [...] We do not know if the Covid-19 pandemic will end by 2024. And we are still in the process of recovering our economy," Tito said in a hearing with the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Tito went on to say that the government still needs to take into account the budget for other national strategic programs. Not to mention the provincial expansion in Papua.

The minister then told KPU to be highly effective and efficient in their budgeting. By effective, the budget should go to making sure that every phase of the election is going as planned.

"It is also important to be efficient – that is achieving the target of a safe and smooth election on a minimum possible budget," the minister said.

According to Tito, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had instructed the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD to discuss with KPU and the House on election budget calculations.

"So please calculate the budget so it is as minimum possible, but can make a safe and smooth election," Tito said.

This marks the first time for Indonesia to hold all its elections – presidential, legislative, local – in the same year. The initial phase of the 2024 elections is set to take place on June 14, 2022. Presidential and legislative elections are slated for February 14, 2024. People will cast their votes for their local leaders on Nov. 27, 2024.

Data portal Databoks Katadata reported the 2014 election budget totaled Rp 15.62 trillion. The election budget rose to Rp 25.59 trillion in 2019.

The KPU and Bawaslu members had only taken their oath at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Their inauguration and the House hearing took place in the same week as the mass student protests. On Monday, university students made headlines for staging a rally before the House in opposition against a rumored presidential term extension.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/kpu-told-to-keep-the-2024-election-budget-minimu