Southwest Papua is one of the New Autonomous Regions which in November will hold simultaneous regional head elections for the first time. Political education is also an important point that needs to be implemented by stakeholders who participate in holding general elections. The hope is of course that the public will know how transparent the flow of peaceful general elections is and that the results will be accepted by all in society. One of the stakeholders whose task is to provide political education to the people in Southwest Papua is the General Election Supervisory Agency. Apart from providing political education, these institutions also need to monitor all the flows in the general election so that fraud or errors do not occur, including supervising the candidates who will take part in the election.
There are various kinds of rules that must be obeyed when general elections take place. Starting from the rules for candidates who register to be elected to volunteers who carry out political campaigns to promote the candidates they are promoting. These rules must be implemented so that the general election runs smoothly and especially to create a peaceful and conducive atmosphere both before the general election takes place, during the general election and after the general election takes place.
The General Election Supervisory Body emphasized that anyone who violates the rules that have been designed and ratified is prepared to accept sanctions. Candidates who register to be elected must be able to follow the applicable rules so that their candidacy status remains valid until the time comes to be elected by the public. The binding rules include that candidates who have the status of Civil Servants must resign and not use any state-owned facilities to carry out their campaigns. The aim of this regulation is to avoid creating conflicts of interest that could result in confusion in the general election process.
People who are part of the volunteers or members of political parties who nominate one of the candidates who will take part in the general election are also bound by the rules which are then directly supervised by the General Election Supervisory Body. One of the rules that has often been echoed is the prohibition of black campaigns and money politics. These two things will harm the integrity of the proposed candidate. Apart from that, black campaigns will refer to many negative things. Money politics must also be avoided so that general elections still have the value of honesty in them.
The General Election Supervisory Body in Southwest Papua Province has members with integrity and can supervise the general election process which will be held for the first time in the province. The people there have proven to understand how the general election will take place and are continuously provided with political education so as not to violate binding regulations that have been passed.
