Rumah Pemilu Indonesia Election Portal
The quick count results from various survey institutions, with nearly 100% of the votes counted, have confirmed that the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka pair has won the 2024 Presidential Election (Pilpres). Although we still have to wait for the General Election Commission (KPU) vote recapitulation until March 20, 2024, history has shown that quick count results have never differed significantly from the official KPU results.
Director of the Center for Media and Democracy Studies at the Institute for Research, Education and Information on Economy and Social Affairs (LP3ES), Wijayanto, criticized the non-transparent funding process of quick counts. According to him, as one of the scientific activities, it is important for survey institutions to disclose the funding sources of quick counts, so that the public can be wary of conflicts of interest in quick counts.
“Publishing surveys has two implications, namely announcement and the opportunity for shaping public opinion. The problem arises if there is no transparency in funding, which has negative implications for democracy,” said Wijayanto during a discussion titled “Interpreting the Results of the 2024 Elections: Popular Wisdom or Power Manipulation” at the LP3ES office in Jakarta (2/18).
Moreover, Wijayanto continued, in the electoral process, there is a problem of horse race journalism that continuously produces survey announcements, causing the public to overlook the substance of the election and democracy. However, according to him, the culture of democracy in Indonesia still needs to be improved through political education from political parties and academics, as he believes that democracy has currently been undermined by numerous violations of the constitution, ethics, and democratic rules.
“For example, through the politicization of social assistance (Bansos) and the manipulation of Civil Servants (ASN) to support specific candidates. This is not conducive to the development of a democratic culture in Indonesia,” he added.
Wijayanto believes that good democracy can foster sustained positive economic growth. However, he sees government solutions and those of each presidential candidate and running mate in this regard as superficial and not addressing the root economic issues of society. This is reflected in the presidential candidate and running mate programs that have not yet provided solutions for sustained economic improvement for the people.
Director of the Center for Law, Human Rights, and Gender at LP3ES, Hadi Rahmat Purnama, sees that the competition in the 2024 elections has not yet clearly distinguished between candidate pairs in terms of their ideas and programs. The programs among candidate pairs are considered not significantly different, with only differences in the arrangement and focus of the programs, thus causing the public to also be unclear in understanding the vision and mission of the presidential and vice-president candidates.
In the end, what matters is the biggest vote-getter for each pair. Populism is the basis in this election, so popularity alone is what attracts voters,” said Hadi.
According to Hadi, the undemocratic electoral process is also caused by the absence of a vocal opposition party that criticizes and corrects the government, leading to the exploitation of the legal system and bureaucratic system for the victory of specific candidate pairs. This chaos, according to Hadi, traps the elections in populism as a tool for legitimizing the perpetuation of power.
Meanwhile, according to the Advisory Board Member of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Titi Anggraini, democracy is difficult to establish in Indonesian elections because electoral participants resort to various forms of cheating to secure victory. Titi states that election results are not just final numbers that cannot be contested, as vote outcomes can also stem from processes that violate the principles and principles of democratic elections.
“For this reason, in electoral law, a scheme of electoral justice is known to advocate for election results that are truly pure, resulting from an electoral process in accordance with the free will of voters, made without any manipulation,” said Titi.
According to Titi, another issue is that technical electoral socialization is not conducted optimally and inclusively, resulting in the public having difficulty understanding the correct election procedures. Additionally, voters still face challenges in accessing information and voter education, leading to problems in the exercise of voting rights due to misunderstandings by officials or voters regarding election rules.
Titi sees simultaneous elections as complicating the electoral organizers in accordance with electoral principles. She suggests that elections should be conducted using two simultaneous models: a national simultaneous election for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates and the House of Representatives (DPR), and a local simultaneous election for provincial and regency/city DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) members, with a two-year gap for the selection of electoral organizers.
“Through this, the burden on electoral organizers becomes more manageable for officials or electoral supervisors, and local issues are not overshadowed by national ones. Additionally, it forces party machinery to work,” Titi explained.
Furthermore, according to Titi, political parties must be willing to take the democratic path to become balancing forces in parliament. She believes that through this, minority protection can be ensured, as the essence of democracy does not marginalize minorities. Titi explains that protection of minorities can be achieved through electoral engineering, without changing the constitution. For example, by allocating 30% of parliamentary seats to minority groups, distributed based on the percentage of votes obtained by each party.
“So the percentage is distributed to each party according to their vote share, and only given to minority groups, and parties must have a list for minority seats,” she concluded.
Translated by Catherine Natalia
