The Nature of General Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) as the Guardian of the People's Sovereignty

Abstract

Genaral election is one manifestation of a democratic system of state administration. The general election administration with different variants/models has been carried out in democracy modern countries in a specific purpose. The basic regulation of it can be seen in the third amendment to the 1945 Constitution Chapter VII B on General Election Article 22E. To guarantee the implementation of democratic elections (the general election) run in accordance with the principles of the election and the electoral law, it is needed on body to supervise the election – called General Election Supervisory Board (hereinafter referred to Bawaslu). Its decision is final and binding. Bawaslu as the guardian of democracy is visible when the democracy is in the form of active democracy. This is consistent with the concept of the supervison of Bawaslu to monitor, review, check, and assess democracy in the active position, or when the democracy is embodied in the election. So, when the election is carried out by KPU, supervision process never stops starting stages of updating the voter list to the polling, counting, and determination of election results.

Keywords: Bawaslu; People’s Sovereignty Guard.