Data Mismatch, Summary Shows Negative Sentiment Flood on Twitter

According to social media analytics firm Drone Emprit, the General Election Commission's (KPU) Recapitulation Information System (Sirekap) application received a significant amount of negative sentiment from netizens on X (formerly Twitter).

Drone Emprit found that during the period of February 14-15, 2024, there were approximately 105,000 conversations related to Sirekap on Twitter, with 85% exhibiting negative connotations.

This negative sentiment stemmed from inconsistencies between the data on Form C1 at many polling stations (TPS) and the results displayed on the Sirekap website.

Netizens widely protested and tweeted using the keyword "Sirekap" from election day onwards.

"Conversations about Sirekap increased dramatically on the night after the February 14, 2024 election. As soon as the data was ready to be uploaded to the KPU using Sirekap, negative sentiment surged," wrote Drone Emprit founder Ismail Fahmi in a personal Twitter post on Friday, February 16, 2024.

Drone Emprit also recorded negative opinions towards Sirekap expressed by Twitter users, including allegations of system irregularities, application shortcomings, lack of data transparency, and criticism of the KPU.

"Weaknesses in Sirekap have caused a stir and decreased trust in Sirekap or the KPU," said Ismail.

Meanwhile, only 7% of tweets related to Sirekap expressed positive sentiment, and 9% were neutral.

Bawaslu (Election Supervisory Agency) Chair Rahmat Bagja stated that the KPU's Sirekap is not the determinant of the 2024 election results. He urged the public not to rely solely on the results displayed by the application.

"The determinant, according to Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections, is the manual recapitulation. Sirekap is merely an aid," said Bagja, as reported by Katadata on Friday, February 16, 2024.

Bagja also mentioned that the Sirekap application is relatively new, so the system may have errors.