Avoid Election Violations! Know the 12 Prohibited Actions in the 2024 Election

Dini Wininta Sari, S.H.

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15 Feb 2024 · 07:41 15 February 2024 07:41 WIB 8 minutes reading time: 8 minutes 1 read

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Various actions that constitute criminal offenses in the General Election are outlined in this article

Avoid Election Violations! Know the 12 Prohibited Actions in the 2024 Election

Table of Contents

Election Violations in Indonesia
1. Election Violation: False Information in Filling Out Voter Registration Data
2. Election Violation: Village Heads Taking Actions to Benefit or Harm Election Participants During the Campaign Period
3. Election Violation: Committing Actions that Disrupt, Hinder, or Interfere with the Course of the Election Campaign
4. Election Violation: Conducting an Election Campaign Outside the Schedule Determined by the General Election Commission
5. Election Violation: Election Campaign Implementers Committing Violations of Campaign Prohibitions
6. Election Violation: Providing False Information in the Election Campaign Fund Report
7. Election Violation: Employers or Superiors Who Do Not Allow Their Employees to Vote
8. Election Violation: Causing Another Person to Lose Their Voting Rights
9. Election Violation: A Person Who Commits Threats, Violence or Authority in Order to Prevent Someone from Registering as a Voter in the Election
10. Election Violation: Setting the Number of Ballots Printed Exceeding the Determined Amount
11. Election Violation: Promising or Giving Money to Voters
12. Election Violation: Casting a Vote More Than Once
Handling Election Criminal Acts
References

Section 3/3: 5. Election Violation: Election Campaign Implementers Committing Violations of C…

5. Election Violation: Election Campaign Implementers Committing Violations of Campaign Prohibitions

Article 493 of the Election Law

Every implementer and/or team of the Election Campaign who violates the prohibitions as referred to in Article 280 paragraph (2) is threatened with imprisonment for a maximum of 1 (one) year and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 12,000,000.00 (twelve million rupiah). This also applies to every implementer and/or campaign team involving several parties in campaign activities, such as supreme judges and judges in all judicial bodies under the Supreme Court, state civil apparatus, members of the TNI/Polri, village heads and their staff, state officials who are not members of political parties who serve as leaders in non-structural institutions, and so on.

6. Election Violation: Providing False Information in the Election Campaign Fund Report

Article 496 of the Election Law

“Participants of the Election who deliberately provide false information in the Election Campaign fund report as referred to in Article 334 paragraph (1), paragraph (2), and/or paragraph (3) and Article 335 paragraph (1), paragraph (2), and/or paragraph (3) shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 1 (one) year and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 12,000,000.00 (twelve million rupiah).”

Article 497 of the Election Law

“Any person who deliberately provides false information in the Campaign fund report shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 2 (two) years and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 24,000,000.00 (twenty-four million rupiah).”

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7. Election Violation: Employers or Superiors Who Do Not Allow Their Employees to Vote

Article 498 of the Election Law states that an employer or superior who does not provide an opportunity for an employee or worker to cast their vote on polling day, except on the grounds that the work cannot be abandoned, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 1 (one) year and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 12,000,000.00 (twelve million rupiah).

8. Election Violation: Causing Another Person to Lose Their Voting Rights

Article 510 of the Election Law states that any person who deliberately causes another person to lose their right to vote shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 2 (two) years and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 24,000,000.00 (twenty-four million rupiah).

9. Election Violation: A Person Who Commits Threats, Violence or Authority in Order to Prevent Someone from Registering as a Voter in the Election

Article 511 of the Election Law

“Any person who, by violence, by threats of violence, or by using the authority vested in them at the time of Voter registration, prevents a person from registering as a Voter in the Election according to this Law shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 3 (three) years and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 36,000,000.00 (thirty-six million rupiah).”

10. Election Violation: Setting the Number of Ballots Printed Exceeding the Determined Amount

Article 514 of the Election Law stipulates that if the Head of the KPU deliberately sets the number of ballots printed exceeding the amount specified in Article 344 paragraph (2), paragraph (3), and paragraph (4), they shall be threatened with imprisonment for a maximum of 2 (two) years and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 240,000,000.00 (two hundred and forty million rupiah).”

11. Election Violation: Promising or Giving Money to Voters

Article 515 of the Election Law regulates that any person who deliberately promises or gives money or other materials to Voters at the time of voting so that they do not use their right to vote or choose a particular Election Participant or use their right to vote in a certain way so that their ballot is invalid, shall be threatened with imprisonment for a maximum of 3 (three) years and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 36,000,000.00 (thirty-six million rupiah).

Meanwhile, promising or giving money during the election campaign is regulated in Article 523 paragraph (1) of the Election Law, which explains that every implementer, participant, and/or Election Campaign team who deliberately promises or gives money or other materials as compensation to Election Campaign participants directly or indirectly as referred to in Article 280 paragraph (1) letter j shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 2 (two) years and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 24,000,000.00 (twenty-four million rupiah).

Both of the above articles can be categorized as bribery, vote-buying to maintain the power of political parties and positions that are included in political corruption. In an institutional perspective, it is an act that deviates from the formal public role duties to obtain money or personal wealth in a way that violates the regulations of people in certain positions that can influence.

Forms of political corruption include vote buying, pork barreling, bribery, conflicts of interest, nepotism or patronage in order to help relatives and people who are in the same group or have the same ideas appointed to certain jobs, influence peddling, campaign funding, trading in influence (trading in influence) public officials to people who make decisions to ensure the implementation of corrupt exchanges from people who give bribes.

12. Election Violation: Casting a Vote More Than Once

Article 516 of the Election Law explains that any person who deliberately casts a vote more than once at one TPS/TPSLN or more at the time of voting shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a maximum of 18 (eighteen) months and a fine of a maximum of Rp. 18,000,000.00 (eighteen million rupiah).

Handling Election Criminal Acts

Articles 476 to 484 of the Election Law regulate that the investigation, inquiry, prosecution, and examination of criminal acts in Elections are carried out based on the Criminal Procedure Code, unless otherwise stipulated in the Election Law.

The district court and high court are authorized to examine, adjudicate, and decide on criminal cases of Elections based on reports of alleged criminal acts of elections from Bawaslu, Bawaslu Province, Bawaslu Regency/City and/or the Election Supervisory Committee of the Sub-district that have stated that the alleged actions or deeds constitute criminal acts of elections to the National Police no later than 1 x 24 hours.

In the event that a district court decision is appealed, the appeal application shall be submitted no later than 3 (three) days after the decision is read out. The high court examines and decides on the appeal case no later than 7 (seven) days after the appeal application is received. The decision of the high court is final and binding and no other legal remedies can be taken.