Pola Pengawasan Bawaslu Pada Pilkada Kotak Kosong di Kabupaten Sukoharjo Tahun 2024

Regional Head Elections have become a showcase of democratic structures, conducted to determine regional leaders based on the principles of direct, general, free, and confidential elections, as well as honest and fair elections (luberjurdil). The people are considered to have delegated their voting rights to choose regional leaders to the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD), which they elected in the Legislative Election. The foundation of this indirect Regional Head Election is based on the 1945 Constitution, Article 18 paragraph (4), which states: “Governors, Regents, and Mayors, each as Heads of Provincial, Regency, and City Governments, are elected democratically.”The Sukoharjo Regency Election Supervisory Body (BAWASLU SUKOHARJO), in the 2024 Regional Head Election, carried out supervision in an election with a single candidate who ultimately competed against the “Empty Box” option. The research method used in this legal study is a normative juridical approach, commonly known as normative legal research, which positions law as a system of norms such as principles, rules, legal doctrines, statutory regulations, court decisions, agreements, and scholarly opinions. The approaches applied in this study include statutory, case-based, historical, conceptual, and comparative approaches. Based on the findings of this research, the supervision carried out by Bawaslu—specifically Bawaslu Sukoharjo—remained grounded in democratic principles, particularly in the context of Regional Head Elections and existing regulations. All stages of the election must still be supervised even when the election involves only a single candidate running against an Empty Box, because election supervision is a mandate of the law. The supervision conducted by Bawaslu Sukoharjo aligns with Article 4 of the Regulation of the Election Supervisory Body of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 2024. In handling violations, Bawaslu took action on several violations that occurred during the 2024 Empty Box Regional Election in Sukoharjo, whether they were reports or Bawaslu’s own findings. For all types of violations, including criminal violations, Bawaslu played an active role through its partnership with the Integrated Law Enforcement Center (Gakkumdu).