Jakarta, IO – In fewer than two hundred days, Indonesia go to the polls, vote and then have those votes counted, in the 2024 election, recorded as the largest one-day simultaneous election in the world. The General Elections Commission (KPU) released a figure of 204,807,222 voters registered on the Final Electoral Roll (DPT), consisting of 102,218,503 men and 102,588,719 women.
Ballots will be cast in 514 regencies and cities, 128 representative countries, 7,277 districts, 83,731 villages and subdistricts and 823,220 polling stations, including those overseas and by mail-in.
Next year will mark the second simultaneous presidential and legislative elections in Indonesian history. Voters will select candidates for five political positions, through the five ballots they receive, including presidential and vice-presidential positions, the House of Representatives (DPR) members, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members, the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) members in the provinces, regencies and cities. For the first time in the Reform era, the DPR and the Government decided not to change the Election Law, meaning that General Elections Law 7/2017 is still effective as the legal foundation for the 2024 ones.
This arrangement both imparts an assurance of the rules of the game from the initial planning stage, and also poses challenges to the implementation of the election stages. In particular, the KPU, as an election organizer, is expected to deliver breakthroughs that can fine-tune the quality and credibility of the election stages. Many hope that the technical problems in the previous simultaneous elections can be anticipated appropriately, and will not recur in the 2024 elections.
One of the crucial evaluations of the 2019 elections is the high number of invalid, or spoilt, votes in the legislative elections – the DPR, DPD, Provincial DPRD and Regency/City DPRD. The ACE Project classifies invalid ballots as (1) blank ballots (no markings at all), (2) ballots that ascertain voters’ identity, (3) ballots with marks for more than one choice, and (4) ballots that do not show the voters’ clear decision. The last category is often difficult to evaluate and assess, and it may be open to different interpretations depending on the voter-counting officers. According to International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance), the global average proportion of spoilt votes is less than 3%. The same source also reports that the average number of invalid votes in presidential elections is smaller than that in legislative elections.
Article 386, paragraphs (2) and (3) of Law 7/2017 stipulates that votes for the DPR, Provincial DPRD, and Regency/City DPRD elections are considered valid if a punch mark is found on the number or picture of a political party and/or the name of the candidate for DPR, Provincial DPRD and Regency/City DPRD. Votes for the DPD election are considered valid if the punch mark is found on a candidate’s column. KPU Regulation 3/2019 regulates 16 types of valid votes for the DPR and DPRD elections to safeguard the purity of votes and ensure the accurate counting of every vote.
Elections are a means of implementing people’s sovereignty with the principle of one person, one vote, one value (OVOVOP). Therefore, every vote counts. It is crucial to ensure that every voter can vote properly and correctly and that his vote is counted accordingly.