Support for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Gerindra has remained the same. Meanwhile the Democratic Party is on the rise. The contestation space for political parties is getting narrower.
Hundreds of regional heads and deputy regional heads from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle or PDIP stayed at the Party School, Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta. They were present to attend the PDIP National Coordination Meeting (Rakornas) in the context of party consolidation facing the 2024 General Election on Friday (17/6/2022).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The space for contestation among political parties about 20 months before voting day on 14 February 2024 is narrowing. Yet while the percentage of people who have not made their choice is getting smaller, the level of loyalty for specific parties has remained relatively unchanged.
Besides internal consolidation, disseminating programs that deal with the interests of the community is believed to increase the electability of the parties.
The results of a Kompas Research and Development survey from 26 May to 4 June 2022 show that in general, the electability of political parties has tended to remain static. The PDI-P remains in the highest position with an electability of 22.8 percent. This figure is relatively unchanged compared with a survey in January 2022. Other political parties in order are Gerindra (12.5 percent), the Democratic Party (11.6 percent), the Golkar Party (10.3), as well as the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) which both received 5.4 percent.
June’s survey results also showed that respondents who had not yet chosen a party was at 16 percent, smaller than in January 2022 when it was 17.6 percent. The level of loyalty to political parties in the House of Representatives in general also strengthened. In the June 2022 survey, loyalty was in the range of 60.2 to 81.6 percent, while in January 2022 it was around 50 percent to 78.4 percent.
PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said on Monday (20/6/2022) that to optimize voter acquisition, especially from the public who had not yet made their choice, his political party had taken a single step — namely getting closer to the public and working for the community. He said there were a number of voter segments that were still being optimized. This is reflected in the PDI-P structure that pays great attention to three groups, the youth, millennial generation and women.
Meanwhile, deputy chairperson of the Gerindra Party, Ferry Juliantono, said his political party was not concentrating on the 2024 general election because they were still focused on helping the President in government and playing a role in the House. Gerindra general chair Prabowo Subianto, who is continuously encouraged by Gerindra officials to run in the 2024 presidential election, is also still carrying out his duties as defense minister.
"This year, insya Allah (God willing), a presidential candidate from the Gerindra Party will be announced, and at the same time the entire infrastructure and machinery of the party will see massive movement,” said Ferry.
The chairman of the Central Executive Board (DPP) of the Golkar Party DPP, Ace Hasan Syadzily, said the political party machine was moving from the central to the village level. "We are carrying out an organizational consolidation program that we aim to complete this year, namely the consolidation of the party structure that must exist in every village. Strengthening the party machine is important to make party agents in the community," he said.
KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO
Rows of flags of political parties participating in the 2019 Simultaneous Elections on the edge of an overpass in the Senayan area, Jakarta, Sunday (7/4/2019).
Also being carried out by Golkar is the recruitment of cadres and the digitization of party membership. At present, according to Ace, the number of Golkar Party members who had recorded membership cards (KTA) was almost 2 million people. "We will continue to boost this until we reach 20 percent of the voter target," he said.
With regard to voters who have not yet made their choice, Ace said, Golkar saw it as an open market to grab. To reach them, Golkar offered programs that were directly related to novice voters who had not yet made their choice. "For example, we offer that if Golkar wins, we will encourage the creation of vast numbers of jobs," he said.
Meanwhile, deputy chairperson of the Democratic Party, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono said he was grateful that his party's electability had continued to increase since 2019. This achievement, according to him, was the result of a tortuous process outside the government. After being in government in the 2004-2014 period, for nearly 10 years the Democratic Party has been in opposition.
Even though acknowledging the role of the opposition has given the blessing of electability to the Democratic Party, Edhie believed this was not the only factor. The increase in public sympathy was also influenced by many things, starting from the existence of its political figures, managerial function, to the party system and factions.
Community programs
Researcher at the Political Research Center of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Firman Noor, said the current party machinery must be mobilized to prepare for the 2024 general election. Parties must optimize their internal consolidation to run programs that are of public concern so as to increase public sympathy and electability.
“Programs that are sympathetic and empathetic to public issues can be chosen by parties to increase their electability. At the same time, party elites must avoid statements that are not in line with the difficult situation experienced by the community," he said.
Parties must be present at all times through various routine community activities that have an impact on the community level.
Executive director of the Indonesian Survey Institute, Djayadi Hanan, said that before a clear candidate was chosen, a party's machine might not be fully operational. Usually the parties that made progress were the winning teams of legislative candidates. This was evident from the electability of the parties that remained the same as the vote gains in the 2019 elections in each survey.
Thus far, according to Djayadi, the party machinery had not greatly moved. Qualitative analysis shows that legislative candidates are more active, while party machine more generally does not move, except for within certain parties such as the PKS and PDI-P. It would be more effective, he added, if the machinery moved beyond the general election. Parties must be present at all times through various routine community activities that have an impact on the community level. Without this, it is difficult to increase electability in the long periods between votes.
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