Presidential and Legislative Elections, 14 February 2024

On 14 February 2024, Indonesia held elections to vote for the president, vice president, and parliamentary and local representatives. The president is elected via two-round voting system and the legislature through party-list proportional representation (International IDEA 2024a). The election management body of Indonesia is the General Elections Commission, or the Komisi Pemilihan Umum (KPU), made up of seven commissioners.  

The KPU was subject to accusations that a voter roll data leak had been due to unprofessionalism; the KPU responded that the accusations were “groundless” (Lai 2024). The KPU also assured stakeholders they were working with the National Cyber and Encryption Agency and National Police cybercrime unit (Star 2023). Prior to the election, KPU’s information system was indeed compromised and partially uploaded online for sale, but there is limited information on the hack and the response (ReSecurity 2024). 

Following an additional compliant about technology failing to reliably tally votes from photographed forms, civil society election observer group Perludem argued the KPU failed to handle both issues seriously and underestimates onward risks. Further, the counterpart Honorary Council for General Election Organizers (DKPP) found that all seven KPU commissioners violated ethical standards when son of President Joko Widodo registered his candidacy for vice president after the age requirements were adjusted at the last-minute (Lai 2024; Kompas 2024).

Widespread AI-generated images and pop-cultural references featured for the first time in Indonesian political campaigning, both promotive and to detract from rival candidates (Tapsell 2024;Lamb et al. 2024). Since the AI campaigning did not violate any election laws, the KPU did not regulate it (Suhenda 2023). Deepfakes were also circulated prior to the election showing voice and language manipulation (Mariwany and Ware 2024). Overall online bullying of women and girls increased dramatically following the COVID-19 pandemic and cyberbullying intensified in the run up to the elections (Harsianti 2023). The Elections Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu, a third body involved in election administration) and Indonesia Ministry of Communication and Information Technology along with social media companies worked to take down the disinformation while acknowledging that disinformation law in Indonesia is vague (Rayda 2024). 

Civil society and media outlets collaborated during the election period to tackle disinformation online, which was done via factchecking initiatives. For example, multiple media organizations worked together to factcheck live during televised debates to debunk misleading or false claims. Indonesia’s oversight body Bawaslu created a General Election Vulnerability Index, aiming to map and minimize challenges. 

One internal source stated that KPU’s public information websites were attacked on Voting Day, totalling hundreds of cyberattacks that overwhelmed the servers (Jakarta Post 2024), although disruption was not long-lived and another KPU commissioner claimed it may have been rather due to volume of user traffic (Jakarta Post 2024). Several cyber-attacks occurred prior to the last election, resulting in stakeholder discussions and multiple government agencies conducting public awareness trainings for cyber safety (van der Staak and Wolf 2019; Antara 2018).

Human rights organizations reported that political activists and others faced intimidation and physical assault before and on Election Day (Sekar 2024). Violence surrounding the 2024 election totaled 18 incidents, resulting in 80 injuries and four deaths, according to NGOs KontraS and Indonesia Corruption Watch (Firdaus and Indrus 2024). While illegal in Indonesia, vote-buying in the 2024 election remained present with limited legal enforcement (Firdaus 2024; Sagita 2024; Kramer 2024). 

Flooding in the week prior to election day displaced around 21,000 people and led to a delay at severl polling stations on election day (Antara 2024; Indra 2024). The flooding also damaged ballots and roads in the affected regions and created technical malfunctions (Muzaki 2024). Reports illustrate that the floods did not result in a large impact on voter turnout (Baharudin and Yulisman 2024).

In 2023, the Central Jakarta District Court tried to delay the elections by two and half years due to a political party compliant about disenfranchisement related to KPU’s registration process and software. The Jakarta High Court rejected this, and the election was held on schedule with the exception of a few flooded regions (Llewellyn 2023; Widianto and Teresia 2023). 

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) observed the 2024 Indonesian general election and found instances of vote buying, a lack of responsiveness by Bawaslu to address complaints, and some election legal violations and some bias on the part of the KPU. However, ANFREL also commended Indonesia on a mostly peaceful and orderly Election Day given the complex and vast logistics required (ANFREL 2024). 

The combination of workloads, fatigue and pre-existing health issues resulted in the death of 114 poll workers (CNA 2024). Ahead of the elections, the commission raised the salary for election officials and provided them with insurance (ANFREL 2024).

The incumbent PDI-P party won the majority of seats in the legislative election but lost the presidency (Utama 2024). Prabowo Subianto, backed by his former rival incumbent president Joko Widodo, won around 58 per cent of the vote in the first round, obviating the need for a second. The official vote confirmation was released on 20 March 2024 (France24 2024). Losing candidates rejected the results of the election, claiming constitutional violations but lacking evidence (Widianto and Teresia 2024; Reuters 2024). Voter turnout for the election was 81.42 per cent, slightly lower than 83.86 per cent in 2019 (International IDEA 2024b)

Women were absent from Indonesia's presidential candidates, and the candidates' programmes lack a strong gender perspective. Women were portrayed primarily as dependents, reinforcing traditional roles as mothers and wives. This highlights the ongoing exclusion of women and gender issues from the political system, despite progress in women's participation (Rosser 2024).