Jakarta – Secular-nationalist and Islamic party coalitions were the most successful in the country's regional elections throughout 2007, while only a few female candidates managed to win office, the People's Voter Education Network (JPPR) reported Friday.
JPPR coordinator Jeirry Sumampow said that secular-nationalist and Islamic party coalitions won 55 percent of the 38 regional elections held across the country last year, while nationalist and Islamic parties running alone won only 31 percent and 8 percent of the seats at stake respectively.
This, said Jeirry, showed the public's desire for populist leaders who had the support of various parts of society.
Lili Romli, a political expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said the phenomenon was a positive thing that could lead to an end to the dichotomy between Islamic and nationalist groups. "However, I hope that these are not pragmatic coalitions, and that they were established to truthfully develop the regions," said Lili.
In non-coalition candidacies, the JPPR found that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle won more posts than any other political party in 2007, followed by the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party and the National Awakening Party.
Regarding women's participation in regional elections, Jeirry said the fact that only three women had won their races showed the lack of support political parties gave female candidates.
"In 2007, only one woman was elected as a mayor and two as deputy mayors. Political parties have to nominate more women so as to increase the possibility of women sitting in regional leadership posts," he said.
Jeirry also said that based on the JPPR's evaluation of the 2007 regional elections, 15 of 31 incumbent officials running in the regional elections lost.
"This is interesting because the number of incumbent candidates winning regional elections was higher than in previous years. Their constituents have probably become more mature and wish for a change to the status quo," he told a discussion on the evaluation.
The JPPR also found a substantial number of people had been unable to register vote in the 2007 regional elections.
It also found that most candidates kicked off their campaigns before the permitted period, and that corruption and personal attacks were common.
Jeirry said that the Regional General Election Commissions (KPUD) and the Supervisory Committees needed to improve their performances and neutrality, given the finding that in some places, KPUDs had shown partiality to certain candidates, while the committees had failed to investigate complaints made by members of the public.
He expressed his concern over "structural conflicts" among the institutions organizing regional elections, citing the recent dispute between the central KPU and the KPUD over the result of North Maluku's gubernatorial election.
Jerry also highlighted the neutrality of bureaucrats, with many officials found to be forcing their subordinates to support certain candidates, who were incumbent officials.
Lili said this bureaucratic partiality was "most evident in the Jakarta and Banten gubernatorial elections". (wda)