Depok, 5 December 2025 — The Faculty of Administrative Sciences, Universitas Indonesia (FIA UI), through the Innovation and Comparative Governance (ICG) Cluster and the Collaborative Governance, Digital Transformation, & Public Services (CGDTPS) Cluster, in collaboration with the Honorary Council of Election Organizers of the Republic of Indonesia (DKPP), held a National Seminar entitled “Safeguarding the Integrity of Election Organizers and Shaping the Future of Democracy,” at the EDISI 2020 Auditorium, Building M, FIA UI Depok.

The seminar featured a number of speakers, namely J. Kristiadi as a Member of the DKPP RI for the 2022–2027 period; Titi Anggraini, a lecturer in Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia, as well as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Association for Elections and Democracy (PERLUDEM); Bivitri Susanti from the Indonesia Jentera School of Law; Dr. Nidaan Khafian, a lecturer at FIA UI and a member of the CG-DTPS Cluster at FIA UI; and Dr. Ima Mayasari, a Law lecturer at FIA UI and Director of the Legal Services and Legislation Agency of Universitas Indonesia. The session was moderated by Dr. Sidik Pramono from FIA UI.

In the opening session, J. Kristiadi emphasized that DKPP plays an important role in safeguarding the dignity and ethics of election organizers through mechanisms for handling violations of the code of ethics, ranging from report verification to the imposition of sanctions. He conveyed that justice in ethical processes must be upheld in a fast, simple, and cost-free manner so that the public has full access to oversee the conduct of elections. He added that strengthening the integrity of election organizers is not merely a matter of regulation, but also concerns the internalization of morality, public responsibility, and the courage to uphold the truth amid contemporary political challenges.

Continuing the discussion, Bivitri Susanti outlined the symptoms of democratic backsliding occurring in many countries, including Indonesia. According to her, for more than two decades the nation has been overly focused on building post-reform institutions while paying insufficient attention to transforming political actors and enhancing citizens’ participatory capacity. This has implications for elections that are procedurally democratic, yet have not fully reflected the ideals of substantive democracy, as the people’s vote is often treated merely as numbers rather than as an expression of the public’s political aspirations.

The discussion on the direction of electoral law reform was delivered by Titi Anggraini, who emphasized the need for regulatory renewal to be more aligned with the constitutional design of elections. She highlighted the dominance of money politics, the complexity of manual recapitulation, and the proliferation of digital misinformation that erodes the quality of democracy.

Titi emphasized that improving elections requires comprehensive reform, ranging from merit-based selection mechanisms for KPU and Bawaslu members, increased real-time transparency of campaign finance, to guarantees of representation for women, persons with disabilities, and diaspora groups as a form of more inclusive and equitable elections.

The seminar session then continued with a presentation by Dr. Ima Mayasari, who mapped trends in electoral and local election fraud over previous periods. She showed that practices such as money politics, abuse of office and state facilities, manipulation of voter data, fraud in vote counting and recapitulation processes, political intimidation, and digital disinformation continue to recur from one election period to the next.

Dr. Ima emphasized that safeguarding electoral integrity is not merely about preventing fraud, but about ensuring that popular sovereignty truly operates through an honest, fair, and trustworthy electoral process. For her, electoral integrity can only be realized when every stage of the election places the people’s vote as a mandate that must be safeguarded, not as a political commodity that can be traded.

After that, Dr. Nidaan Khafian highlighted the importance of collaboration among actors in creating elections with integrity. He explained that a healthy democracy cannot rely solely on election organizers, but requires the active involvement of various parties, ranging from state institutions, civil society, professional organizations, academics, to the wider public.

According to him, cross-sectoral synergy and collaboration are prerequisites for strengthening electoral governance, accelerating the resolution of structural problems, and preventing the recurrence of deviations that have long disrupted the quality of Indonesian democracy. He emphasized that collaborative public oversight will, in fact, strengthen public trust in the electoral process.

Through the organization of this National Seminar, FIA UI and DKPP conveyed their commitment to strengthening electoral governance in Indonesia through public education, academic research, and inclusive policy dialogue. The presence of participants from diverse backgrounds, ranging from election organizers, academics, students, to the general public, demonstrated enthusiasm and collective awareness that the future of Indonesian democracy is largely determined by the integrity of election administration and the quality of the actors who drive it.