With the implementation of the 2020 regional head elections (pilkada) coming, there are pros and cons from various groups. This is further exacerbated by the pandemic period that has not ended. To socialize this, the General Election Commission (KPU) of the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) conducted an online seminar or webinar titled KPU Goes To Campus with the theme “Pilkada Amid Pandemic: Why Not?” with Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) on Thursday (05/11).

The seminar was held through the Zoom Meeting platform and was broadcast via YouTube KPU DIY. The event, which was moderated by David Efendi, S.IP., MA., was filled by several speakers, namely Siti Ghoniyatun as Head of the Law and Supervisory Division of the KPU DIY, Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, M.Sc., as a lecturer in Government Science at UMY, and Dr. . phil. Ridho Al-Hamdi, MA., as a lecturer in Government Science at UMY.

In her presentation, Siti explained that to face the implementation of the upcoming 2020 regional elections, the KPU as the organizer must ensure the safety, health and security of the election participants. This is a new challenge. So, the KPU intensively and proactively conducts outreach to ensure that the elections can be carried out in a democratic, healthy and safe manner. The KPU also collaborates with various parties, especially the Indonesian Bawaslu and TNI / POLRI to provide security during the election activities which will take place in 9 provinces and 270 districts/cities in addition to a COVID-19 task force. “In addition, the KPU also added 1 principle in holding elections, namely the principle of health and safety based on the protocol for health prevention and control of COVID-19,” explained Siti.

In order to prevent the formation of new clusters at each stage of the election implementation, health protocols must be tightened. Campaigns must be conducted with a limited number of meetings and online methods. In line with this, Bambang added that social media can be used to gain community involvement to participate actively in participating in the implementation process of the 2020 elections. “When using social media, each candidate must prepare high-quality methods, considering the people have limited interaction compared to social media,” he said. (ays)