Indonesia Conference Directory

This paper examines the election monitoring in Indonesia with a specific focus on a unique element in Indonesian election that is the Bawaslu, an official institution established to observe and monitor the electoral process. Bawaslu had gained considerable authority since 2017, granted by the election law, to not only monitor and provide recommendations, but also has the power to intervene with the electoral process and to judge any electoral offence. In the case of 2019 concurrent election, Bawaslu-s newfound authority had caused it to be in a constant conflict with the KPU. It is also argued that Bawaslu-s existence is one of the causes that have led to the declining participation of local or international civil society in election monitoring in Indonesia. Despite the argument claiming that the phenomenon is a sign of Indonesian election is getting better, the diminishing role of civil society as monitoring agents in electoral process can also be viewed as a symptom of democratic backsliding. This research uses observational study to evaluate the 2019 concurrent election and interviews with people from KPU, Bawaslu, as well as local and international election monitoring NGOs in Indonesia. We argue that Bawaslu-s current role is not ideal in the Indonesian electoral system because the participation from civil society in election monitoring is still very much needed in democracy consolidation in Indonesia.