Warming Up for 2019 General Elections

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto (center), accompanied by General Elections Commission chairman Arief Budiman, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian, Indonesian Military commander Marshall Hadi Tjahjanto and Election Supervisory Commission chairman Abhan tell journalists at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday (22/6/2018) about the final preparations for concurrent regional elections. Elections will be held in 171 regions on June 27.

In terms of the number of participating regions, the simultaneous regional elections (Pilkada) of 2018, held in 171 regions, set no new record. In 2015, simultaneous elections had been held in no fewer than 269 regions.

In 2017, simultaneous elections for regional leaders were held in 101 regions. In 2016, there were no regional elections. According to 2015 data from the Home Ministry, 542 autonomous regions will hold simultaneous elections in seven series until 2027, if no new autonomous regions are created. There are currently 34 provinces, 415 regencies, 93 cities, one administrative regency and five administrative cities in Indonesia.

Even though not the most in terms of numbers, the simultaneous regional elections this year seem to use up more energy and attract more attention from political parties, the government, election organizers and society, because 2018 and 2019 are politically charged years. This year, regional elections are held simultaneously in half of the provinces of the country, several of which are provinces with large numbers of voters. Those provinces are frequently regarded as the face of particular political parties.

East Java, for example, is assumed to be the basis of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and South Sulawesi a major source of votes for the Golkar Party. The provinces of Central Java and North Sumatra, meanwhile, are identified as the "bull cages", that is as a voter base for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). West Java is an arena of fierce struggle among Golkar, the Gerindra Party, the PDI-P and the Democratic Party.

The number of voters in those five provinces, according to 2018 data from the General Elections Commission (KPU), exceeds 103.99 million people. The 2018 regional elections, which will take place simultaneously in 17 provinces, 39 cities and 115 districts, will involve 152.05 million voters. This means that the number of votes in the five provinces is no less than 68.39 percent of total voters in the simultaneous regional elections this year. The eligible voters in the simultaneous regional elections this year also account for more than 77 percent of an estimated 196.5 eligible voters for the 2019 general election. This would be a very big amount for political parties if they could grab victory in the current regional elections.

This daily has reported on how political parties are throwing their full weight behind the respective regional leadership candidates they support in the 2018 regional elections (Kompas, 22/6/2018). This is understandable, because the large number of voters in the regional elections this year will be a gauge of popular support for the political parties and their presidential/vice presidential candidates in the 2019 general election, when simultaneous polls will be held to elect the president, members of the House of Representatives (DPR), the provincial legislative councils (DPRD Propinsi), regency/city legislative councils (DPRD Kabupaten/Kota) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Electability in the regional elections is highly dependent on figures. However, a party machine that moves correctly to support them will optimize the efforts to achieve victory.

Now, it is time for the citizens, especially in the 171 regions holding elections this year, to choose their candidates for regional leadership according to their conscience and the track records of the candidates. It is also time to scrutinize parties and election organizers for their honesty, responsibility and fairness, so that victory can be achieved by anyone that will give benefits to the people. Warming up for the 2019 general election is fine, but the interests of the people should be the main thing.