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Historic elections may not yield expected results
For the sake of democracy: Siti Zuhro (left), a senior political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, speaks at a public discussion in Jakarta
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For the sake of democracy: Siti Zuhro (left), a senior political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, speaks at a public discussion in Jakarta (Tempo) (left), a senior political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, speaks at a public discussion in Jakarta (Tempo)
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span class="inline inline-center">For the sake of democracy: Siti Zuhro (left), a senior political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, speaks at a public discussion in Jakarta. (Tempo)
While allowing all Indonesian people to directly cast ballots for their leaders, flaws in the process of the simultaneous regional elections could create results that fell short of people's expectations, an expert has claimed.
Siti Zuhro, a senior political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday that Indonesia's regional head elections, which were held simultaneously on Dec. 9, had been marred by various problems, which had created an intense tug-of-war of short-term political interests.
Citing an example, the expert said that prior to the election, several regions did not have enough candidate pairs due to tough nomination requirements, so they were forced to match candidates who did not suit each other.
Siti said that most of the candidates who had competed in the simultaneous elections were nominated by political parties, which were known to be tainted with corruption.
'In this situation, we cannot hope that we will get optimal results from the simultaneous regional elections. What we expect is still far from reality. The only thing they [political parties] want is to win the contest. It's not wrong to have such an expectation. But this can become a problem when there is no contest in their respective areas to seek the best candidates,' said Siti.
She said that as political parties were the main pillars of the direct elections, it was time for all political parties in Indonesia to begin a process of internal reform. Only with internal reforms, she added, could political parties become key pillars of democracy that offered quality candidates to the country.
'If they don't want to make internal reforms, even so-called direct elections will not produce credible leaders,' the analyst said.
As many as 264 regencies and municipalities held simultaneous regional elections on Wednesday.
Five regions had to delay their elections due to legal problems following lawsuits filed by regional head candidate pairs against decisions made by the Regional General Elections Commission (KPUD) in their respective areas.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) named South Tangerang as a pilot area for this year's simultaneous regional elections, a historic first for the nation. Together with KPU officials, representatives from 30 countries were invited to visit several polling stations in South Tangerang.(+)
