Avoiding Monopoly to Reduce Single Candidacy

In the upcoming 2017 Local Elections, there are six electoral areas with only one candidate for voters to choose. Single candidacy, according to the Local Elections Law No.10/2016, is permissible. However, single candidacy indicates a bigger problem, that is unequal domination of power. Therefore, in order to resolve the problem, the Secretariat for the Election Law Codification Initiative (the Secretariat) offers a solution.

“To avoid unequal political support from many political parties to only a few candidates, we need to set a limitation on how much political parties should be allowed in a coalition. There shouldn’t be more than 40% of parliament seat holders in a coalition,” says the Executive Director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Titi Anggraini, who is also a member of the Secretariat (10/27).

The limitation is included in the Election Law Bill made by the Secretariat, specifically in Article 125 paragraph (2). Titi believes this provision will be effective in reducing single candidacy in local elections.

“Single candidacy is bad for democracy. In an election with only one candidate, the sole candidate has no incentive to provide a better policy because there is no competition,” Titi explains.