Position of the Institution of the General Election Commission in Keeping the Democracy System in Indonesia

Abstract

General elections are an absolute requirement for implementing people's sovereignty for a country that adheres to a democratic system where the highest power is in the hands of the people. The implementation of a general election can be said to be democratic or not depending on the existence of an election organizing body or institution. In the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the institution authorized to hold General Elections is the General Election Commission as stated in Article 22 E paragraph 5 which contains: "General elections are held by a general election commission that is national, permanent, and independent. The follow-up to the constitutional provisions is described in Law No. 7 of 2017 concerning the Implementation of General Elections. This law emphasizes that general elections must ensure the direct, general, free, confidential, honest, and fair. So that it produces democratically elected leaders who will then play a role in democratic governance so that indirectly the General Elections Commission has a role in maintaining the democratic system in Indonesia. In conducting this research the author uses a normative legal research method with a p-approach approach. the law, namely Article 22 E paragraph 5 of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and Law no. 7 of 2017. The purpose of this research is to find out the position of the independent General Elections Commission (KPU) in participating in maintaining the Indonesian democratic system through the implementation of free, honest and secret elections. The results of the research show that the KPU as an independent institution has a major role in maintaining the democratic system in Indonesia.