TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Researcher at the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Heroik Pratama, assessed that the draft General Election Commission Regulation (PKPU) on campaigns and campaign funds conducted in a public test on Friday, August 2, tends to be wrong.
The reason, he said, is that instead of maintaining the provision of sanctions for candidate pairs who do not submit campaign finance reporting, the KPU actually provides tolerance that can damage election integrity.
“Campaign finance reporting is an important instrument whose existence cannot be compromised,” Heroik said in a written statement obtained by Tempo, Wednesday, August 7, 2024.
Referring to KPU Regulation Number 5 of 2017, especially in Article 54, it has been regulated to impose sanctions of disqualification or cancellation on candidate pairs who do not submit LPPDK by the specified deadline.
The problem, said Heroik, is that the latest draft PKPU campaign, specifically in Article 65 Paragraph (4), regulates the sanction for candidates who do not submit the LPPDK according to the specified time limit, namely not being determined as an elected candidate pair until the LPPDK is submitted.
Also, he continued, the latest PKPU draft also only provides administrative sanctions for candidate pairs who do not submit LADK according to the specified time limit.
The sanctions are: written warnings and prohibited from conducting campaign activities as stipulated in Article 65 Paragraphs (1), (2), and (3). However, if after seven days the candidate pair does not submit the LADK after receiving administrative sanctions. Then, a campaign ban sanction is imposed.
“This is not in line with the principles of transparent and accountable election integrity,” he said.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher, Seira Tamara, said the plan to remove the disqualification provision also shows that the KPU has ignored the interests of voters to get clear information about campaign funds and is more in favor of the interests of election participants.
In the new draft PKPU on campaign funds, he said, instead of getting disqualified, candidate pairs who do not report LPPDK can still be elected, only that the determination will be postponed until the person concerned submits LPPDK.
“This has shown the excessive tolerance given by the KPU to candidate pairs that lack integrity,” said Seira.
Likewise, the KPU’s statement that this provision was taken because it conflicted with Law Number 6 of 2022, he said, was wrong.
“As an organizer, this shows that the KPU does not consider campaign finance reporting as crucial and useful for voters,” he said.
Seira explained that campaign finance reports in the form of LADK, LPSDK, and LPPDK are very important for voters.
Because, in the report, voters know who the donors are to the candidate pairs, and what the donations are used for. And most importantly, this is important to maintain election integrity.
“The reporting of campaign funds, for example, can minimize the entry of criminal proceeds including corruption in the funding vortex,” said Seira.
Tempo tried to ask KPU Chairman Mochammad Afifuddin and KPU Commissioner Idham Holik for an explanation. But until this news was uploaded, both of them had not responded to the messages sent.
Previously on Friday, August 2, Idham explained that the rules for disqualification sanctions for not reporting LPPDK were not regulated in Law Number 10/2016 on Pilkada. Therefore, the KPU cannot make technical rules that contradict the rules above.
This article was published on Tempo.co with the title “Perludem Criticizes Plan to Eliminate Disqualification Provisions Regarding Campaign Fund Reporting”, https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1900872/perludem-kritik-rencana-penghapusan-ketentuan-diskualifikasi-ihwal-pelaporan-dana-kampanye