Indonesia election 2024: will Gibran’s chances be hurt by poll body’s ethics scandal?
- The head of the General Elections Commission has been found guilty of not amending a rule before accepting Gibran’s election registration
- Undecided or swing voters might avoid supporting the Prabowo-Gibran pair as a result of another ethics scandal, an analyst says
On Monday, the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) found Hasyim Asy’ari, the chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU), as well as six commissioners, to be guilty of breaching ethics for not amending the organisation’s internal regulation on the minimum age of candidates before accepting Gibran’s registration.
The first scandal surrounding the candidacy of Gibran, the 36-year-old mayor of Surakarta in Central Java, occurred on October 16, when the Constitutional Court ruled that those below the age requirement of 40 were still eligible to run in a presidential election if they had already been elected to a different office.
The court’s ethics board later found the ruling to be unethical because Anwar Usman, Widodo’s brother-in-law who was also the court’s chief justice at the time of the ruling, had failed to recuse himself. Anwar was later demoted from his position and is barred from ruling on any future election-related cases.
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However, the court’s ruling was allowed to stand, opening a path for Gibran to register with the KPU as the vice presidential candidate on Prabowo’s ticket on October 25.
Instead of immediately seeking approval from lawmakers to revise the minimum age for candidates in its internal regulations to comply with the court’s ruling, the KPU only informed political parties about the changes, the DKPP said on Monday.
The lawmakers only approved the revised regulation on October 31, six days after Gibran’s registration.
For breaching KPU’s regulations, Hasyim was slapped with a “final stern warning” while the six commissioners were given a “stern warning”.
On Monday, Hasyim refused to comment on the ruling, only saying that “I have provided answers, evidence, and arguments” to the DKPP.
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As with the Constitutional Court’s ethics scandal, the DKPP’s decision will not impact Gibran’s vice-presidential bid as it does not have the authority to nullify an ongoing candidacy.
Habiburokhman, the deputy chair of the Prabowo-Gibran campaign team, told reporters that the DKPP’s ruling “does not impact the candidacy of Prabowo-Gibran,” adding that the KPU was at fault for not revising its regulation on time.
Weakened legitimacy
However, the KPU’s ethics breach could potentially “weaken the legitimacy” of the election in the eyes of voters, according to Aisah Putri Budiarti, a political researcher with Jakarta-based National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
“Even though Gibran’s candidacy remains valid, in this situation the KPU chairman [should] apologise to the public for the ethical issues and public chaos that occurred,” she said.
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“The Constitutional Court has ethical problems, and then the KPU has ethical problems, what can we be proud of in this democratic process?” he said while on the campaign trail in West Java on Monday.
“Everything that is good will later be seen and conversely, everything that is bad will be revealed. This is a warning to all, do not allow any violations,” Anies said.
Since last month, academics in Indonesia have issued statements urging for a fair and just election, as well as voicing concerns about democracy backsliding under Widodo’s leadership. The academics include those from Widodo’s alma mater, Gadjah Mada University, who urged him on January 31 to “immediately return to the corridors of democracy and prioritise the people’s values and social justice”.
Although Widodo has not officially endorsed any candidate, it is widely believed that he is tacitly supporting Prabowo and his son’s ticket, leading to accusations that he is attempting to start a political dynasty.
While it remains unclear whether the latest scandal would dampen Prabowo’s presidential hopes, BRIN’s Aisah said that it might lead undecided or swing voters to avoid supporting the pair.
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“I think the public today will always [try] to push for an ideal democracy for Indonesia, and in that context, ethical issues will become very important for them. [The undecided voters] may change their minds from being unsure about choosing this pair to being sure about not voting for them,” she said.
In the latest nationwide polls, Prabowo is currently hovering at just over 40 per cent of voter support while his rivals Ganjar and Anies trail him with around 25 and 22 per cent, respectively.
