”KPU Maluku, Papua, and Highland Papua will go to Jakarta on Tuesday morning to immediately recapitulate the national-level votes,” he said.

KPU Optimistic About Completing Vote Recapitulation on Time

The KPU still has two days to complete the national vote recapitulation. KPU member, August Mellaz, expressed his optimism that the entire process will be completed before the March 20 deadline.

“We will maximize the remaining time to complete the vote recapitulation from the provinces that have not been completed,” said Mellaz.

Meanwhile, Bawaslu emphasized the importance of the KPU adhering to the established recapitulation schedule.

“No region should exceed the deadline because the procedures and schedules have been regulated in the Election Law,” emphasized Bawaslu member, Lolly Suhenty.

Bawaslu noted that several provinces experienced delays due to objections from witnesses in the plenary meeting. Allegations of administrative violations submitted by legislative candidates to Bawaslu also slowed down the process.

“Bawaslu will handle these violations through a fast administrative process that is decided within a day, and through regular administrative handling that is attempted to be completed before March 20,” explained Lolly.

Legislative candidates and election participants can report alleged administrative violations if they find differences in the recapitulation results.

Vote Recapitulation Potentially Violates Rules and Challenges Justice

Fadli Ramadhanil, a researcher at the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), reminded the General Election Commission (KPU) to ensure timely vote recapitulation. Delays at the regency/city, provincial, and national levels have the potential to become administrative violations.

The KPU RI must supervise the three provincial KPU that are experiencing difficulties. The Chairman of the KPU must not take these delays lightly, because the KPU RI is responsible for organizing elections.

Fadli emphasized that delays in recapitulation violate the most important principle of elections, namely predictable stages. Delays indicate a failure to maintain the integrity of votes.

Legislative candidates (caleg) and election participants often criticize the accuracy of data, causing many objections from witnesses. Many legislative candidates seek justice by filing complaints with Bawaslu. This situation signifies the possibility of many lawsuits regarding election result disputes to the Constitutional Court (MK).

Fadli suspects that there will be many PHPU (election result dispute) petitions to the Constitutional Court, especially for legislative elections. Disputes regarding the addition and reduction of votes are occurring quite massively, as evidenced by the large number of delayed recapitulation processes.