IO, Jakarta – The General Election Commission (KPU) stated that it expects that in February or March 2020 a decision will be handed down as to whether e-recapitulation is to be applied in the 2020 elections. The Chairman of KPU, Arif Budiman, said that in order for this decision to be implemented, at the end of 2019, the study of the e-recapitulation system starting from the legal instruments, rules, and models that will be used should be completed. “The target is that we must conclude in February/March 2020 is whether the e-recapitulation system is to be implemented or not,” Arif said when opening a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) titled “the implementation of e-recapitulation in other countries”, in the Sudirman district, Central Jakarta, Wednesday (2/10/2019).
If it is to be implemented, he said, then a simulation of the implementation of the election, especially the regional head elections (Pilkada) 2020 will follow in several districts / cities / provinces. The plan to implement a e-recapitulation itself is carried out because the use of information technology used during direct elections has been developed since 1999. “The better the trend (the use of technology) is now, it shows that we are more ready to use it. Therefore, in the 2020 elections we plan to implement e-recapitulation,” Arif said.
He said the readiness of implementation of information technology for the 2020 elections looks promising. He also hopes that the 2020 elections can be a transition period for the use of digital electronic technology for Indonesian election results. “So, we prepare it (e-recapitulation) seriously, hopefully, we can find a pattern. We use e-recapitulation with methods such as the one that will be implemented in the 2020 Pemilukada,” he said. The FGD conducted by KPU was carried out in order to ascertain what kind of pattern was appropriate. This also includes formulating regulations, e-recapitulation models and good practices.
Meanwhile, former KPU Commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay said the process of building an e-recapitulation system must be transparent. “It must be ensured that in addition to being a ready-to-implement system, human resources who are ready to implement the system, in addition, public confidence that this (e-recapitulation system) will be finished must be there. It can be built from the start with an open and participatory process,” Hadar said.
He said public involvement for the sake of transparency in the process of system development was needed, so that it will engage public trust. He considered that as long as the regulations were truly ready and the organizer had the ability to implement the system, the community would accept the system being implemented was truly honest and accurate in its calculations. “The key is that preparations must be truly open or transparent from the beginning to the end, and must be participatory, because when it is new, people will not be familiar with how to build it,” he said.
He gave an example: the Philippines, when building electronic systems in their voting process, did it openly. They also conduct experiments and evaluations repeatedly. In addition, the technology that will be used later is also very important, so that the system that is built can be relied upon and works quickly and accurately. “The technology and infrastructure, supporting elements such as networks, servers, and others really must be able to accommodate. The security of the system is also important. It must also be ensured,” he said. (dsy)