Incumbency of Elected DPR RI Members Continues to Increase Every Election

The number of elected incumbent members of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) continues to increase with each election. In 2009, the incumbent’s electability rate was 25.2 percent. In 2014, the figure increased to 38.2 percent. Then it rose again in 2019 to 47 percent, and in 2024, 56.4 percent of elected legislative candidates will be incumbents.

“So, with a situation like this, it certainly makes it difficult for the non-incumbent to be able to fight.” Moreover, non-incumbents have to deal with political dynasties, political financing difficulties, and intense competition in political parties,” said the Head of the CSIS Politics and Social Change Department, Arya Fernandes, at the “Launch of ‘Our Parliament’ Dashboard and Talkshow of Elected Young Legislative Members,”  at the Mulia Senayan Hotel on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.

Commenting on this, the elected non-incumbent legislative candidate from the Golongan Karya Party (Golkar) for the East Java V electoral district, Ahmad Irawan, said that one strategy that could be implemented was to choose the electoral district carefully. Ahmad chose a constituency where the votes of incumbent legislative members had decreased over the two elections.

“If in the last two elections the incumbent vote has fallen, that electoral district is good to enter. “Because there’s no way we can beat the incumbent if the vote growth graph continues to rise,” said Ahmad at the same event.

Ahmad admits that it is not easy to contest against the incumbent and has no family ties to the party elite. Incumbency and the presence of family members in the party provide benefits in the form of vote protection for legislative candidates in the same party.

“It’s not easy for us, who are non-political dynasties. Minimum political protection when we work in the field. If we have a father, mother, uncle, or son of a regional head who is incumbent, at least the party structure will not interfere. “Because the hardest thing is actually internal competition,” said Ahmad.

Another successful strategy for passing to parliament was expressed by the elected legislative candidate of the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) for the East Java IV electoral district, Kawendra Lukistian. Having a long process in the party, choosing a political mentor who can provide space for development, and being actively involved in various youth organizations is Kawendra’s path to success. The network of young groups where they are active can be mobilized to win the tight competition.

“We must be able to grab young forces.” I’m in East Java electoral district 4. Of the nearly 80 campaign team members, the majority are under 25 years old,” said Kawendra.

In a different story with Ahmad Irawan and Kawendra, the elected legislative candidate of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) for the West Java VI electoral district, Muhammad Kholid, benefited from the affirmation implemented by his party. PKS applies an affirmative quota of 30 percent for young party cadres under the age of 40 to enter the DPR RI permanent candidate list (DPT). PKS also places potential young cadres at the top of the electoral districts, with a large party mass base. This affirmation is what will lead young cadres to parliament as a result of the 2024 elections.

“If there is no affirmation like this, being able to compete fairly with the incumbent, who has quite a lot of resources from parliament, will be difficult. I am in West Java electoral district 6, Depok Bekasi. This is one of the PKS bases.” I was placed at number 2. Number 1 was the incumbent because he was the party’s general treasurer,” said Kholid. []