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National scene: Local elections 'may not improve democracy'
Simultaneous local elections set to take place on Dec
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imultaneous local elections set to take place on Dec. 9 are unlikely to lead to reform of regional democracy and could trigger political conflict, according to an expert.
'It may run well in terms of procedure, but conflicts could still occur,' political expert Arie Sudjito of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University said on Sunday as quoted by tempo.co.
Arie predicted that a number of perennial problems would re-occur, such as disputes over election results, legal battles among contestants and the election of incompetent regional heads.
These problems, he said, would continue despite the new electoral system, primarily because of political parties' failure to enact internal reform.
'The system is new, but political parties have made no changes,' he said.
The simultaneous 269 elections were an opportunity to reform local democracy, Arie said, but the lack of changes within parties looked likely to stymie that opportunity.
'Political parties are not changing. The bodies supplying the candidates are the same as last time. As such, there is nothing new about the candidates.'
