On Wednesday, July 23, 2025, the JagaSuara2024 movement, initiated by the Network for Democracy and Electoral Integrity (NETGRIT) along with strategic partners, held a Public Discussion titled “Maintaining Electoral Integrity through Electoral Governance Improvement: Lessons and Policy Recommendations from the JagaSuara2024 Movement” at the Ashley Hotel, Jakarta. This discussion aimed to present the monitoring results of the 2024 Concurrent Elections and to initiate steps toward more transparent, fair, and high-integrity elections.
The JagaSuara2024 movement is a collaborative initiative launched by the Network for Democracy and Electoral Integrity (NETGRIT) in partnership with several organizations, including the Centre for Political Studies, University of Indonesia (PUSKAPOL UI). As part of the JagaSuara2024 coalition, PUSKAPOL UI played a role in developing technology-based approaches and citizen participation to enhance the accountability of the electoral process, particularly during the vote recapitulation stage.
Serious Evaluation of the Decline in Electoral Integrity
The year 2024 made history with concurrent national and regional elections held in the same year. However, this momentum also left various concerns. The decline in Indonesia’s democracy index score from the EIU (ranking 56th to 59th) and the electoral integrity score from 58 to 47 (based on the Global Electoral Report 2025) are significant indicators of the declining quality of democracy. Issues emerged from the beginning, ranging from the selection of election administrators that did not fully reflect independence, the allocation of electoral districts, to the ineffective 30% quota policy for women’s representation. Ultimately, the use of SIREKAP (Electronic Recapitulation Information System) was considered problematic and failed to provide transparency in the vote counting process.
The event commenced with opening remarks by Haidar Nafis Gumay, NETGRIT, Coordinator of the JagaSuara2024 Coalition. The Coordinator of the JagaSuara2024 Coalition stated that “The purpose of this discussion is to convey ideas on how to improve the integrity and quality of elections based on observations and input for future policies. According to our records, there are at least 5 more regional elections where voting must still be conducted; 3 of these are re-votes in Papua Province, Boven Digoel, and North Barito. Meanwhile, the other 2 are re-elections because the winner in these two regions was the ’empty box,’ meaning the majority did not vote for the single candidate pair in two regencies in Bangka Belitung Province; these will take place on August 6, 2025, and the re-elections on August 27, 2025.”
In his presentation, Bima Arya Sugiarto, Vice Minister of Home Affairs, serving as the keynote speaker, highlighted two major points: “First, we must align the institutionalization of the party system with the improvement of our democratic quality. Efficiency, coordination, and synergy targets must not sideline the substantive values of democracy. Second, we are currently entering a crucial phase for re-evaluating the revision of the election law.”
The first discussion panel was presented by Heroik M. Pratama, Perludem, JagaSuara2024, regarding JagaSuara’s findings in the 2024 Elections and a comparison between the implementation of General Elections and Regional Elections. Heroik M. Pratama stated that “Perhaps what we have known so far focuses mostly on the campaign stage alone, to observe money politics, abuse of state resources, and so on. On the other hand, focus on the context of vote counting and recapitulation is often minimal, even though Indonesia is called a democratic country on the day of voting and counting, where one factor is seen in the context of volunteer monitoring conducted by voters on election day.”
The JagaSuara2024 movement is a collective effort to monitor the vote counting process in the 2024 elections by collecting photos of the C-Result forms from two sources. First, from JagaSuara2024 volunteers spread across various regions in Indonesia. Second, the C-Result sources are obtained from the publications made by SIREKAP at the KPU, where the data is then downloaded and uploaded to the JagaSuara website.
Sandy Yudha Pratama Hulu from JagaSuara2024 presented his study report titled “Staking the Integrity of the 2024 Concurrent Elections: A Portrait of Regional Election Result Disputes at the Constitutional Court.” The discussion on the results of the Regional Elections at the Constitutional Court focused on how the issues of vote counting and recapitulation actually manifest in the 2024 Regional Election dispute cases. According to him, there are at least 12 cases at the Constitutional Court where the arguments concern vote counting and recapitulation issues.
| Regency | Case Status |
| Mimika Regency | No |
| Lamandau Regency | Rejected |
| West Pasaman Regency | Rejected |
| South Bengkulu Regency | Rejected |
| Highland Papua Regency | Reject |
| Puncak Jaya Regency | Granted |
| Puncak Regency | Reject |
| Siak Regency | Granted |
| Berau Regency | Reject |
| North Halmahera Regency | No |
| Central Buton Regency | No |
| Buru Regency | Granted |
Of the 12 cases, only 3 were granted by the Constitutional Court. The first was in Puncak Jaya Regency regarding the alleged forced takeover of ballot boxes during recapitulation at the district and sub-district levels. Second, in Siak Regency, a case regarding vote counting recapitulation due to the opening of sealed ballot boxes at night at one of the polling stations. Third, in Buru Regency, a case involving alleged vote inflation from absent voters and counting conducted during a power outage.
The discussion also featured Betty Epsilon Idroos, Member of the KPU RI, who provided answers regarding the influence of SIREKAP on improving the quality of democracy in Indonesia, as well as KPU’s innovations in information technology procurement and electoral information systems. She stated that “SIREKAP is an information system used as a tool in vote recapitulation for the 2024 Regional Elections, consisting of: SIREKAP Mobile, SIREKAP Web, and SIREKAP Public Info. Once again, we have made improvements to SIREKAP for the 2024 Regional Elections. SIREKAP Mobile is used by the KPPS, while SIREKAP Web is used by the PPK and PPD. Furthermore, we have improved its development features, specifically OMR and OCR, to shorten the process of translating images into numbers.”
Herwyn J.H. Malonda, Member of the Bawaslu RI, shared several Bawaslu observations regarding the implementation of the election, focusing particularly on the voting, counting, and recapitulation stages, and addressed questions regarding SIREKAP improvements. Responding to these questions, Herwyn J.H. Malonda stated, “Bawaslu notes that the KPU needs to conduct socialization, technical guidance, and simulations for the use of SIREKAP for all users; ensure mitigation for KPPS members who do not have Android phones; guarantee data accuracy at the KPPS level without changes at the PPK; ensure that supervisors, witnesses, and monitors receive copies of the C-Result and D-Result forms in compliance with manual recapitulation procedures; and display vote tabulations on SIREKAP Public Info for transparency and public control. Furthermore, representing Bawaslu and himself personally, he agreed that SIREKAP could serve as the primary tool for counting to avoid fraud, especially tiered fraud. However, it is also necessary to consider anticipatory measures to prevent misuse or hacking so that data integrity is maintained.”
The discussion concluded that electoral integrity is heavily determined by an open and participatory process. JagaSuara2024 proves that civil society can fill accountability gaps through technological innovation and cross-sector collaboration.
Watch the replay of the public discussion on the JagaSuara2024 YouTube channel:
