T

he regional election season has begun: The hectic political year may witness a whopping 180 direct local elections — starting with the race for South Sulawesi’s gubernatorial post on Tuesday and ending in December when residents of the remote Papua regencies of Jayawijaya, Biak Numfor and Nabire elect their regents.

Originally, only 137 elections were slated for this year, but the Home Ministry and the House of Representatives added 43 elections, scheduled for 2014, to the roster to ease the burden for the General Elections Commission (KPU) and its regional chapters. Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said the legislative and presidential elections in 2014 justified the move.

Gamawan’s premise makes sense as the presidential election in 2014 will determine the course of the country’s bid to consolidate democracy, to which it has been committed since commencing political reforms in 1998.

With 34 provinces and over 500 regencies and municipalities, Indonesia is counted among the countries that hold the largest number of elections annually. The political events are costly for the regional poll commissions, the institutions that manage the elections, and the candidates.

Residents pay dearly if the democratic fiesta turns violent, if lives are claimed or people are displaced. An unfavorable political climate scares investors, adversely affects production activities and eventually thwarts the efforts made to empower the local economy.

Worse, regional elections, no matter how democratic, do not automatically translate into welfare and delivery of public services.

As seen in many regions, corrupt leaders are elected, local politicians misuse the state’s money for their own personal gain, or democracy is hijacked and political dynasties are established. As if to add insult to injury, up to 70 percent of regional budgets goes toward the salaries of the mushrooming bureaucracy at the expense of development spending.

As such, the political event has evoked criticism from many, including those who initially promoted the mechanism of elite rotation as part of efforts to transfer power from the central government to regional governments back in 2004.

Critics say regional elections have only heightened political noise, sapped regional budgets and resources and enabled vote-buying to mushroom, which all run counter to democracy and the objectives of local elections. Campaigns for the reinstatement of elections for the regent, mayor and governor by the regional legislative councils, which was practiced during the New Order era, have become more prevalent.

The government and the House are aware of the drawbacks and may endorse a new law on regional elections to maintain direct elections for the regent and mayor but stipulate indirect elections for governors, citing the governor’s job as coordinator of regional governments. To cut costs, the government has also introduced simultaneous regional elections, which will be introduced in West Java next month.

The improvement of the regional election regime is indeed imperative, but it can neither defy individuals’ political aspirations nor pave the way for political corruption.