Bawaslu: Election Oversight Must Adapt to the Digital Space

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Member of the Indonesian Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) RI, Puadi, stated that election oversight must adapt to the digital space amid the increasing political and democratic activity online.

“Bawaslu must be able to be present not only in the field, but also in the digital space,” Puadi said during the opening of the Bawaslu Campus Connect event: Digital Generation, Transparent Democracy at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, Jakarta State University (UNJ), on Wednesday.

Puadi noted that technological developments have altered campaign patterns and the dissemination of political information, which were previously dominated by physical spaces and have now shifted to digital spaces through various social media platforms and the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

He said this change demands that Bawaslu continue to transform through the use of information technology so that election oversight becomes faster, more accurate, and data-driven.

To support this digital transformation, Bawaslu has developed several information systems, including the Election Supervision System (Siwaslu), the Sigap Lapor reporting channel for alleged violations, the Dispute Resolution Information System (SIPS), and the Election Vulnerability Index (IKP).

Puadi emphasised that digital transformation does not merely mean changing manual processes into digital ones, but also changing the way the organisation works so that supervision can be carried out in real time, be data-driven, and be predictive in detecting and preventing election violations.

“I believe the quality of Indonesia’s democracy in the future is not only determined by regulation or technology. But what is more important is the quality of its young generation,” said Puadi.

He added that technology can strengthen democracy if it is used ethically, supervised transparently, and supported by active public participation in safeguarding the democratic process.