The separation of DPRD elections is to prevent the elections from becoming too crowdedJakarta (ANTARA) - Elections for the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) should not take place alongside presidential and parliamentary elections, member of the supervisory board of elections watchdog the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) Titi Anggrarini has said.
"We hope the next (2024) DPRD election will be separated from elections for the president, the House of Representatives (DPR), and the Regional Representative Council (DPD) members," she told ANTARA here on Friday.
Voters and local electoral organizers would be overwhelmed if the DPRD election takes place at the same time as the presidential, DPR, and DPD elections, Anggraini explained.
Holding of simultaneous elections for national and regional executives and the legislative assembly has been cited as a major challenge for the 2024 election, and simplification to address the issue is necessary, she added.
According to research conducted by Perludem, elections for various government offices should not be packed into one election, and electoral districts should not be too large to ensure the proper functioning of the open-list representation system adopted by Indonesia, she said.
The open-list proportional representation system allows voters to vote directly for their preferred candidate instead of voting only for parties.
In elections held under the open-list model, the names of all political party candidates are printed on ballot papers and thus, they might confuse voters, Anggraini pointed out.
She said she hoped that by separating the DPRD election from the presidential, DPR, and DPD elections, voters would find casting their ballots more convenient.
"The separation of DPRD elections is to prevent the elections from becoming too crowded," Anggraini said and warned that a crowded election could overwhelm voters and local organizers.
She also lauded the General Elections Commission's (KPU) recent proposal to simplify ballot papers for the 2024 general elections as a progressive step, but warned that the proposed simplification might not alleviate all election challenges.
"We have no assurance that ballot simplification would alleviate all of our electoral challenges," Anggraini remarked.
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Translator: Putu Indah S, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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