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View all search resultsIndonesians oppose indirect regional polls
Six of 10 Indonesians surveyed by the Indonesian Survey Circle disapprove of a proposal to scrap direct regional elections, with rejections consistent across regions, income levels and age groups.
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A voter casts his ballot into a ballot box at a polling station during a revote on Dec. 3, 2024, for the 2024 simultaneous regional elections in Makassar, South Sulawesi. (Antara/Adwit Pramono)
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recent public survey has shown that most Indonesians oppose a plan raised by President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition to abolish direct regional elections, with analysts warning that ignoring public sentiment could expose political parties to “electoral punishment” and erode trust in the government.
Support has been growing within the ruling coalition to scrap direct regional polls after the President last month urged his coalition members to “be brave” in considering a return to an electoral system used during former president Soeharto’s New Order authoritarian era, when governors, regents and mayors were selected by regional legislative councils (DPRDs).
Almost all coalition members have publicly thrown their weight behind the proposal, with the Democratic Party becoming the latest to do so. The party founder, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, once opposed a similar effort led by Prabowo’s Gerindra Party during his presidency.
But most of the public said otherwise, with a survey by Lingkaran Survei Indonesia (Indonesian Survey Circle) led by Denny JA finding that 66.1 percent of respondents oppose the plan to abolish direct regional polls.
The figure far exceeds the 28.6 percent who support the proposal, while 5.3 percent of respondents offered no response.
“This is not a small figure. It shows a massive and systemic rejection,” Indonesian Survey Circle researcher Ardian Sopa said during the survey’s launch event livestreamed on Wednesday.
“In public opinion, once a support or rejection passes the 60-percent threshold, the impact becomes very significant,” he continued, noting the rejection is consistent across regions, income levels and age groups.
