The study of local democracy in Indonesia stems from a question that must have an answer to reveal the secret behind a single candidate at the time of the democratic party.
Isn't the democratic party aimed at selecting candidates for local leaders who govern for local government? How can a single candidate become democratic for regional head elections?
For that, there are questions that we ask the regional election organizers. These are the questions and answers that happened at the time. You can do independent research to find out the political conditions for the city level in your area.
Note:
Constitutionally from court decisions set by the Constitutional Court Justices say that the blank column is a voting option in some jurisdictions or organizations designed to allow voters to express disagreement with candidates in a voting system. This is based on the principle that consent requires the ability to vote in an election, much like when a voter can say "No" to a voting question.
This rule is accommodated in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 of 2016 which regulates the implementation of regional head elections. This law forms the basis for local elections where there is only one candidate.
In such cases, the candidate who opposes the election against the NOTA option (usually called the 'empty box'), and is declared the winner in the regional head election, if they manage to obtain a majority of valid votes.
Otherwise, the election will be postponed for the next regional head election; the Indonesian government appoints an interim office official until the election of a new regional head, at which time the losing candidate is eligible to run for re-election.
Researchers ask questions and local election administrators provide answers:
How do you know about the political process that resulted in a single candidate for regional head elections in this district?
From my observation, political parties have not been able to produce cadres. In fact, political parties must have branches in each region. Doesn't that mean they have party members in this area?
However, I see that there is a political elite that dominates every political party in this area. Thus, political parties can only unite to win and choose a single candidate who has a 90% chance of winning. So, the Regional Head here has no opponent to enliven the local democratic party.
What is the condition and existence of an election monitoring agency in your area?
There is no election monitoring body here. You want proof? There are no election observers who register with the Regional General Election Commission to monitor the implementation of regional head elections.
Until now it is a reality that we have to accept with sad feelings. People prefer to be part of a team to win regional head candidates than to be election observers. Because election observers are not paid. Thus, it is rare for people to volunteer to volunteer to monitor national or local elections in this area.
How is the campaign carried out by supporters from empty boxes and supporters from single candidates?
First, advocates for the empty box do not have a clear organizational structure. They did not register with the Regional General Election Commission. They invite social media users to reject a single candidate.
In addition, there are no laws and regulations that prohibit people from supporting empty boxes against teams from coalitions of political parties. Support for empty squares is unpredictable. Their work is very flexible.
However, from what I know, supporters for the empty box are campaigning more on social media, especially Facebook and Twitter.
second, the single candidate for local elections is not very active for the campaign. They feel that the election of regional heads is only a process that already knows what the final outcome of local democracy is today.
In fact, political parties have started discussions for political work after the local democratic party is over. There is nothing interesting about the campaign. Supporters for single candidate look happy on social media. No opponents and not afraid to lose.
In fact, in the Mayoral Election for Makassar City, South Sulawesi Province, it has been proven that an empty box beats a single candidate. As a result, the Makassar mayoral election had to be repeated because there was no winner.
How does the Election Supervisor here oversee the reporting and activities of campaign finance for the political process in favor of a single candidate?
In order to monitor political funds from a single candidate, we oversee activities by setting up monitoring instruments such as:
How many times did the campaign take place and how many people attended the campaign
How many campaign materials were distributed and where did the campaign materials come from, then what company produced the campaign materials
How much will it cost for transportation and consumption each time the campaign is carried out
How many donors for a single candidate and how much money has been spent on each campaign activity
For supporters of empty columns, we have no logical reason to monitor their activities. It is a legal vacuum.
Therefore, the election supervisory agency does not have the authority to oversee political funds for supporters of the empty column. They are very free and unmanageable.
So, until recently, supporters for the empty column were outsiders in the democratic party but had the political power to fight coalitions of political parties that supported a single candidate.
Is the single candidate the incumbent regional head who now leads the regional government here? If it's true. How is the neutrality of the state civil apparatus working in this regional government? Do you have an answer from the results of your election monitoring?
Yes, the single candidate is a very strong incumbent in terms of logistics and political power in this area. Civil servants who work for local government here are not all neutral in the election of regional heads.
From our observations, there are reports of election surveillance that see civil servants supporting the single incumbent candidate. The Civil Servant was seen participating in campaign activities and supporting online on social media.
How was the response from the local election supervisory agency? According to the law for regional head elections, don't you have the authority to oversee the Regional General Election Commission, the campaigns of the incumbent single candidate, and support the initiation of participatory monitoring of independent civil society groups?
We always socialize that there are two candidates in the nomination for regional head elections, namely a single candidate and an empty column.
We hope that there will be public participation to help the election supervisory agency to oversee the campaign of this single incumbent candidate and also oversee the Regional General Election Commission.
We hope that there will be election monitoring organizations that register with the EMB to participate in the supervision of regional heads, in particular overseeing the activities and neutrality of the army, police, and civil servants in this area.
Conclusion:
Everyone who conducts research for elections at the city level who elects regional heads or mayors must be active.
This research is the first step so that the public better understands the substance of local elections.
Because there is no justice from a single incumbent candidate. A single candidate destroys the political system and democracy.
Shouldn't the health of democracy have a balance between the government and the opposition coalition?
If the political opposition joins the government coalition, then how can the political community monitor the performance of the local government?
Regards
Andrian The Lover
Such a nice explanation. Got clear concept of local or regional election.