The House of Representatives’ Commission II overseeing legislation and budgets approved to provide additional budget of IDR 7.86 trillion to the General Elections Commission (KPU) and IDR 6.06 trillion to the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) for the 2024 elections.
“The approval of the increasing budget was aimed at avoiding tragic events in the 2019 elections, so that there should be no more casualties, let alone election officials who died from exhaustion,” said the commission deputy speaker Junimart Girsang during a hearing with the KPU and Bawaslu on September 21, 2022.
In the 2019 elections, a total of 894 election officers died and 5,175 election officers were sick, mostly due to exhaustion.
Based on the Letter of the Minister of Finance No. S-909/MK.02/2021 dated October 04, 2021, regarding the Submission of the Budget Allocation Ceiling for Ministries/Agencies for the 2022 fiscal year, the KPU received a budget ceiling allocation of IDR 2,452,965,805,000 (two trillion four hundred and fifty-two billion nine hundred sixty-five million eight hundred five thousand rupiah). In the 2022 fiscal year, KPU’s policy regarding Automatic Adjustment to support Employee Salary Expenditure is IDR 34,192,892,000 (thirty-four billion one hundred ninety-two million eight hundred ninety-two thousand rupiah).
The current budget allocation list (DIPA) that is commonly used is IDR 2,452,965,805,000 (two trillion four hundred fifty-two billion nine hundred sixty-five million eight hundred five thousand rupiah). There are several things related to the budget allocation and the KPU has obtained permission to use the Unit Budget (SABA 999.08) from the Ministry of Finance c.q DJA (directorate general of budgeting) amounting to IDR 1,245,036,027,000 (one trillion two hundred forty-five billion thirty-six million twenty-seven thousand rupiah).
From the Budget Unit for the Budget Section of the State General Treasurer (SABA BUN), KPU received an approved budget of IDR 1,076,713,662,500 consisting of phase 1 amounting to IDR 830,623,031,000 and phase 2 amounting to IDR 246,090.45 million. Meanwhile, the remaining use of the phase 3 of SABA BUN amounting to IDR 168,322,365,000 has yet to receive approval from the finance ministry.
The KPU budget ceiling after the addition of SABA BUN reached IDR 3,529,679,467,500 (three trillion five hundred twenty-nine billion six hundred seventy-nine million four hundred sixty-seven million five hundred rupiah).
From this budget, a budget for voter education activities has been allocated involving the House’s Commission II.
The KPU currently has used the budget requirement from the initially submitted allocation ceiling, amounting to IDR 1,528,311,909,000 (one trillion five hundred twenty-eight billion three hundred eleven million nine hundred nine thousand rupiah) or 43.30% based on the KPU Online Monitoring of the State Treasury and Budget System (OMSPAN) data on September 9, 2022, which had a total ceiling of IDR 3,529,679,467,500 (three trillion five hundred twenty-nine billion six hundred seventy-nine million four hundred sixty-seven million five hundred rupiah).
Required budget for 2023
The KPU gets the allocation of the fiscal year Indicative Ceiling 2023 according to the Joint Circular Letter of the Minister of National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and the Minister of Finance No. S617/MK.02/2022 and B.577/M.PPN/D.8/PP.04.02/07/2022 dated 27 July, 2022, concerning Ministry/Agency Budget Ceilings and Completion of Ministries/Agency Work Plans and Budgets for Fiscal Year 2023 in the amount of IDR 15,987,872,001,000 (fifteen trillion nine hundred eighty-seven billion eight hundred seventy-two million one thousand rupiah).
Fiscal year Indicative Ceiling 2023, which the KPU receives is IDR 15,987,872,000,000 (fifteen trillion nine hundred eighty-seven billion eight hundred and seventy-two million one thousand rupiah). The proposed KPU budget requirements in fiscal year 2023 is IDR 23,857,317,226,000,00 (twenty-three trillion eight hundred fifty-seven billion three hundred seventeen million two hundred and twenty-six thousand rupiah). There is still a shortfall in the KPU budget for 2023, amounting to IDR 7,869,445,225,000 (seven trillion eight hundred sixty-nine billion four hundred forty-five million two hundred twenty-five thousand rupiah).
The process of organizing elections is complex and involves many parties, requiring KPU personnel to always work by prioritizing the principles of professionalism, integrity and understanding of institutional duties and functions. This is in accordance with Law No. 7/2017 concerning general elections which regulates the duties, authorities and obligations of KPU in the national, provincial and mayoralty/regency level. Currently, the KPU has 17,345 human resources consisting of 2,767 KPU members and 14,578 KPU secretariats. Another supporting factors to achieve a successful election implementation is the availability of adequate facilities, including land, buildings, operational vehicles, laptops/computers, printers, scanners, audio-video equipment and other supporting facilities.
In the 2023 fiscal year, the KPU proposes a management support budget of IDR 713,977,854,000 (seven hundred thirteen billion nine hundred seventy-seven million eight hundred and fifty-four thousand rupiah). In the KPU fiscal year Indicative Ceiling 2023, it has been allocated in the amount of IDR 431,776,635,000 (four hundred and thirty-one billion seven hundred seventy-six million six hundred and thirty-five thousand rupiah), so there is still a shortage of IDR 282,201,219,000. Considering that the budget allocation for operational needs is not yet ideal, especially to meet office operational expenditures such as building and building maintenance costs, equipment, and machine maintenance costs, as well as power and service subscription costs, it is necessary to increase the budget to meet these needs.
