3 New Provincial Laws in Papua Passed, 2024 Election Budget Increases?

Jakarta - KPU chairman Hasyim Asy'ari spoke about the 2024 election budget after 3 laws related to the division of Papua were passed by the DPR. Hasyim assesses that the election budget will not increase significantly due to the addition of the new province.

"If the new autonomous regions (DOBs) are actually not very relevant to the addition of the budget, yes," said Hasyim after a hearing with Commission II of the DPR, the Ministry of Home Affairs and election organizers at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday (7/7/2022). .

Hasyim then explained the basis for the preparation of the election budget. Hasyim said the calculation of the election budget was based on 2 things.

"Because the way of thinking about the election budget has two bases. First, the number of voters. Second, the number of polling stations allocated to serve voters," he said.

According to him, the addition of provinces has no effect on the number of voters and polling stations (TPS). Thus, according to him, the election budget will not change significantly due to the division of the province.

"It's just splitting (provincial expansion). The number doesn't change, the number of TPS doesn't change either, so there's not a significant addition to the budget change," he said.

In addition, Hasyim continued, the expansion of 3 provinces in Papua will also not greatly affect the increase in the budget. Also, according to him, if there is an additional budget, he said he can borrow the local government's budget temporarily.

"If it's like the provincial KPU institution, all kinds of things, from an office perspective, because the situation is like this, it doesn't always have to be there. Financing, for example, can be borrowed and used, first belongs to the local government," he said.

To note, the DPR has just passed 3 laws related to the expansion of the Papua province, namely the South Papua Province Law, the Central Papua Province Law, and the Mountain Papua Province Law. The three laws were passed in a plenary meeting last Thursday (30/6).