The Effectiveness Of Election Silence According To
PKPU (Regulation Of The General Election Comission)
NO. 23 of 2018 Concerning Election Campaigns On
Social Media
Nynda Fatmawati
1
, Anisatul Ulfa
2
{ninda.fatmawati@narotama.ac.id
1
, anisatululfa17@gmail.com
2
}
Narotama University, Arif Rahman Hakim Street no. 51
1
, NarotamaUniversity, Arif Rahman Hakim
Street no. 51
2
Abstract. This study aims to look at the effectiveness of election silence legality related to PKPU
(Regulation of The General Election Commission) no. 23 of 2018 concerning the Election Campaign for
sympathizers on social media ahead of the 2019 presidential election. The method of this research is
normative legal research which, among others, reviews PKPU no. 23 of 2018 on Election Campaign and
Law no. 7 of 2017 on General Elections. The result shows that PKPU regulates sympathizers of supporting
candidates to be officially registered, but social media accounts of those sympathizers are not included to
campaign team accounts that have to be registered. Such fact raises speculation on the possibility of using
those accounts as tool in conducting a covert campaign during Election Silence by campaign team. Thus,
the aim of election silence which is to give prospective voters the opportunity to calmly consider before
deciding can’t be obtained. The limitation of registration quota of the social media accounts of campaign
teams is not in line with the large number of sympathizers who use social media as tools to influence
community for choosing the supported candidate.
Keywords: Presidential Election, Election Silence, Campaign.
1. Introduction
General election is a celebration for Indonesian. Democracy is closely related to the rule
of law because in democratic literacy, election is one of the nine principles of state law [1],
[2].General election is part of the implementation of the principles of democracy [3], [4], which
in this case, people have the right to choose representatives who are trusted to convey their
aspirations.
The presence of mass media is increasingly helping people in making choices. Each
year, the role of mass media as means for promoting candidates is getting stronger. The media
is employed by not only individuals (legislative candidates, presidential candidates and vice
presidential candidates) but also political party. The usage of it may look new, but the increasing
popularity of media has actually developed and has been liberated since the 1999 general
ICBLP 2019, February 13-14, Sidoarjo, Indonesia
Copyright © 2019 EAI
DOI 10.4108/eai.13-2-2019.2286573