Jakarta – The three-day registration window for candidates in the regional head elections, to be held simultaneously this November, officially closed at midnight on Friday with a frantic final rush of applications in several constituencies.
The final list of candidates have now been locked in, with the General Elections Commission (KPU) saying that 1,518 candidate pairs have registered to get onto the ballot.
As we wait for the dust to settle to get a clearer picture of where the pieces may fall on this vast political chessboard, let us once again express our utmost appreciation to the Constitutional Court for handing out a timely ruling that ultimately allowed for a more level playing field.
The court ruled in favor of lowering the legislative threshold for nomination, revising how political party support was measured and retaining age requirements.
Kudos also goes to the instantaneously organized mass rallies, driven by younger critical voices, which ramped up public pressure on authorities and politicians seeking to bypass the top court's ruling. Thanks to them, the 2024 regional elections have become more competitive again – at least at face value, notwithstanding the 48 constituencies where the races will be uncontested. At least some parties have dared to strike out on their own in defiance of broad coalition goals.
Even so, there is still much work to do for all of us – candidates, political sponsors and voters – in order to achieve a democratic system of elections that is more substantive and less procedural.
In recent years, the national political landscape has been overtaken by the cartel-like practices of a big-tent coalition that supports president-elect Prabowo Subianto but has been informed by the wheeling and dealing between President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his political allies.
This groupthink had even seeped into local electoral politics, which heretofore had developed fairly independently of national considerations, due to the diversity of the constituencies and the key role that local electability plays.
While the court rulings and the subsequent demonstrations have helped dampen dynastic ambitions and attempts to align local contests with national alliance goals, they still have not entirely rid the elections of such disrupting factors. For instance, in the case of former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, whose reelection bid was thwarted by party politics, high voter popularity did not guarantee him a ticket.
At least one member of the Labor Party, which had sought to back Anies in the Jakarta gubernatorial race, even suggested that the election process was "undemocratic".
As a country constitutionally bound to a democracy based on the wisdom of the people's representatives, there is still a lot of unfulfilled hope concerning the public's aspirations.
For election participants, the onus is on them to leverage their resources, networks and social capital for the good of their constituents. They must provide clear, actionable plans that address key issues in their respective regions. They should engage in transparent debate, promote civic education, campaign inclusively and commit to ethical campaign practices.
Specifically for political sponsors like political parties, donors and other interest groups, the public expects that they support candidates with more substantive platforms, which promote accountability and facilitate campaigns that focus on substance over superficial messaging.
For us to achieve a "golden" generation of Indonesians, as enshrined in the 2045 Vision, it is incumbent upon political parties to develop their talent pool and refrain from making assumptions that dismiss voters as lacking intelligence.
As for us voters, we should always demand substance from election candidates and educate ourselves on the issues at stake in each of our constituencies. We should also be open to more civic participation and resist the urge to fall prey to populist rhetoric and sensationalism.
The rallies of the past few weeks should just be a starting point for us in our endeavor to be more active citizens.
By working together, we can all help shift the focus of elections from mere procedural formalities to substantive discussions that genuinely address the needs and concerns of the public at all levels of government.
As the registration window shuts, the road to polling day opens for us a new vision of hope to improve our hard-won democracy.
Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2024/08/31/window-of-hope.htm