Bawaslu Shifting Towards Quasi-Judicial Body: Institutional Design Failure?

Abstract

The Indonesia General Election Supervisory Agency, or Bawaslu, is a newly established state agency during the reformation era. In the first place, Bawaslu simply planned to be an administrative office on broad races holding in Indonesia. However, Bawaslu is now acting not only as a supervisor but also as a quasi-judicial body for the purpose of resolving massive, organized, and systematic violations in general elections. Our main topic of discussion in this paper is this new function. This paper elaborated on the complexity of institutional design following the Bawaslu transformation into a quasi-judicial body against its traditional impediment due to its nature as a hierarchical state organ by employing a juridic-normative research method with a conceptual approach. Its subordinate in the provincial or city/regency area most likely cannot act independently in this situation. Due to its lack of justice and doctrinal denial, the Bawaslu relationship with the supreme court, which placed the supreme court in the role of settling structured, systematic, and massive administrative violations, also became a fallacy. So, these issues become the institutional plan disappointment endured by Bawaslu.