Indonesia will not Use e-Voting: Election Commission

TheIndonesia.co - The General Election Commission (KPU) of Indonesia confirms not to use "e-voting" in the 2024 Election. The Chief of KPU Ilham Saputra emphasized stated that technological breakthroughs are most needed at the counting stage, not at the polling.

"So far, the KPU does not plan to use 'e-voting' (in the 2024 election). However, we have used information technology, as in previous elections, such as the Electronic Recapitulation Information System (Sirekap). Of course, we also initiated Sirekap to be used in the 2024 General Election," Ilham Saputra told reporters after opening the International Seminar on Election Governance entitled "Electoral Governance in Indonesia: Adopting Technology, Promoting Transparency, and Enhancing Integrity", at the KPU RI Building, Jakarta, Tuesday, March 29, 2022.

According to Ilham, "e-voting" use in the 2024 General Election is not yet important because so far voting or polling stage has not been problematic. He said the problem in organizing the election was at the stage of vote recapitulation. Ilham said that in several elections that have been held in Indonesia, many parties often suspect fraud in vote counting.

Therefore, according to Ilham, KPU is putting attention on utilizing technology in counting votes through Sirekap to prevent fraud. "That's what we use information technology for the recapitulation so that the process becomes transparent, information on the results of the vote count can be directly known to the public, and the results can be more accurate because they can be known day-to-day," said Ilham.

In addition, he continued, "e-voting" also requires tools with expensive prices and maintenance. If the KPU uses a polling technology system, it will have an impact on increasing the 2024 election budget.

On the same occasion, Ilham also expressed his hope to the House of Representatives to immediately plan a hearing with the KPU so that the KPU Regulation Bill (PKPU) related to the stages, schedule, and program of the 2024 General Election could be ratified immediately.