The Effectiveness Of Election Silence According To PKPU (Regulation Of The General Election Comission) NO. 23 of 2018 Concerning Election Campaigns On Social Media

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.