TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Reducing vote-buying in local elections
Change Size
People write their signatures on a poster on Car Free Day on Aug. 14 in Jakarta to indicate their support for a campaign by the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to stop vote buying. (Kompas.com/David Oliver Purba)
V
ote-buying is considered endemic in Indonesian politics, particularly since direct local elections were introduced in 2004. However the government and many election experts have stated that direct elections are still relevant, as a “lesser evil” compared to indirect elections, by guaranteeing people’s votes and encouraging public participation.
Direct elections have been evaluated and challenged by many lawmakers following the defeat of their candidates in the 2014 presidential election. The opposition parties argued that the election of governors, regents and mayors should be reconverted to indirect elections in which local legislative councils (DPRDs) have the right to appoint regional heads.
This would be counterproductive because indirect elections will negate the right of people to vote for their leaders and strengthen oligarchy in both DPRDs and political parties. Fortunately, the law reinstated direct elections into practice, along with its drawbacks.
Until recently, vote-buying is still the number one threat of reliable direct elections, followed by shortcomings regarding voters’ data, logistics and other technical procedures. A recent survey from the Founding Fathers House, as quoted recently by Kompas, revealed that 61.8 of informants said they were willing to receive money and goods from candidates ahead of elections.
The survey shows that the culture of voters is highly contaminated by corruption and expediency, which sooner or later will cause Indonesia’s democracy to decay. The survey seems to blame voters for their ignorance. Yet vote-buying is more of a legal and structural problem rather than cultural.
The government is keen to eradicate vote-buying as seen in the 2016 Regional Elections Law concerning regional heads. Both candidates and their campaign teams who have proven to have exercised vote-buying are subject to penalties.
Article 73 states that such candidates face disqualification from an electoral race. However, the penalties need concrete implementation considering that this year alone local elections have been scheduled simultaneously across seven provinces, 76 regencies and 18 municipalities.
