Friday, May 5, 2017. Master Program of Government Affairs and Administration (MIP-UMY), an institution that has a spirit of maintaining democratic idealism, felt the necessity to contribute by holding a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the theme of “Law Formulation for Transparent and Accountable Elections” involving stakeholders including academics, practitioners and NGOs. In this FGD, Dr. Suranto M.Pol and Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo S.IP, M.Si were the speakers. They explained that the election is the embodiment of the sovereignty of the people, where the highest power is in the hands of the people and the people also become the main element in forming a State. Implementation of elections that can guarantee the creation of a democratic order requires a set of legal rules governing the holding of public elections that is direct, free, honest, and fair, and also an election that open opportunities for people’s political participation as widely as possible. In the upcoming 2019 election, it is planned to be held simultaneously as the other elections. Based on the Constitutional Court Decision Number 14 / PUU-XI / 2013, the 2019, General Elections shall be held simultaneously among the Legislative and Presidential Election.
This Law Formulation of Election Organizers will be the basis for the simultaneous elections that will be held in 2019. For the discussion of this law formulation of elections, the law combined 3 Laws, namely the Law on Legislative Election, the Law Presidential and Vice President Election, and Law on Election Organizer. All the discussions will be summarized into one Election Law because in 2019 there will be a simultaneous election in one day, namely the election of the President, Vice-President, and the Election of the Legislative Candidates. Several crucial issues in the draft of the Constitution of the 2014 General Election are seen to contribute to the advancement of the democratization process in Indonesia but there are also some things that set back the implementation of democracy. In other words, the implementation of the 2019 election has both opportunities and challenges as well as the risks of democracy, if not properly planned. Therefore, Dr. Dyah Mutiarin M.Si as the chairman of the MIP hopes that the FGD results can contribute to the more transparent and accountable Election Law for Elections.