Concurrent Regional Elections 2015: Problems Exist But Still Successful

Since 2005, governors, mayors and regents have been directly elected by citizens in separate, five-yearly local elections. To promote efficiency, the government is planning to hold simultaneous local elections in 269 regions this year and hundreds of others in 2016 and 2017.

In fact, not all the planned local elections were held. The General Elections Commission indefinitely delayed polls in five regions due to unsettled legal disputes, but no one can deny that Indonesia has succeeded in organizing the biggest simultaneous elections in the world. Finally, local elections were held in eight provinces and over 260 regencies and municipalities on December 9. Prior to the scheduled polling day, there were indications of vote buying.

The experiment will continue in 2017 and 2018 before Indonesia can carve out history by holding presidential, legislative and regional elections on the same day in 2019.

The implementation of the concurrent local elections 2015 has been facing several problems such as invalidity of voters list, vote buying or so called "money politics", rampant black and negative campaigns, non-neutrality of government officials, and voter turnout in areas like South Tangerang in the western outskirts of Jakarta and Medan, North Sumatra, that had dropped compared to the previous regional elections.

Therefore the impact is obvious as revealed by the fact that some regional head candidate (like governor, deputy governor, regent, deputy regent, mayor and deputy mayor) who lost in the elections are unwilling to admit defeat with some reasons.

Actually, the rejection of concurrent local elections 2015 had been predicted by scholars, observers and mass media as some had been regarded vulnerable to conflict and therefore security authorities are forced to take precautionary measures.

We should be realized that our democracy paves the way for the people with competence and integrity to run for regional positions like governor, deputy governor, regent, deputy regent, mayor and deputy mayor, but real politic plays by its own rules.

Why the incumbent arises as a winner?

According to the  Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem),  278 of 538 candidates running in the concurrent local elections 2015 are former governors, regents and mayors or their representatives. For examples, from 123 candidates of regent, deputy regent, mayor and deputy mayor, at least 35 of them are female candidates won the hearts and minds of the eligible voters.

One of the reasons behind the victory of the incumbents in the recent concurrent local elections is that they have enjoyed many advantages, which are legitimate, of  being in power for five years. Their access to regional budgets allows them to serve their people in exchange for votes. Their frequent appearance in public, not to mention media exposure, may have also guaranteed their popularity.

That is why political parties are prone to nominating the incumbents or the powerful rather than spending time and energy on grooming potential leaders. Power-hungry political parties are reluctant to invest big for uncertain returns. Rarely in Indonesian politics is the presence of prominent leaders both at the national and local levels. They are the products of regeneration system within political parties.

Besides that, the propensity of political parties to choose pragmatism over their responsibility for generating national and local leaders has also contributed to the leadership crisis that the country is now enduring. Quality leaders, who put public interests above those of party and group, fight corruption without compromise and protect the minorities and the weak, remain elusive.

Many problems but still successful

Regardless of technical barriers and administrative flaws, this year's local elections truly pave the way for people's emerging political sovereignty, leaving no more room for rotten political oligarchy, which often dumps the people's voices in a corner rather than putting them on a pedestal.

Although concurrent local elections 2015 has technical barriers and administrative flaws, the country's first simultaneous local elections suggest that voters be rational in selecting the candidates by considering their proven integrity and aptitude for exploring and connecting with their constituency.

Therefore, political elites and their mass should cherish the result of local elections in more than 260 regions across the country.

The results of the concurrent local elections 2015 show voters are convinced that they get firsthand and original information. This progress also shows that our democracy is growing maturely, moderately, and peacefully.

Furthermore, victorious candidates are inseparably linked to their ability to promote their local features. Citizens place much hope on emerging leaders that look clean, humble and that actively reach out to the grassroots in communities.

Of course, we need the President and all of the winners of local elections 2015 to consistently pursue nine-priority (Nawacita) agenda that includes assuring the presence of the state in fulfilling citizens rights. More and more local leaders may feel forced to show more commitment to inclusiveness as incentives for such attitudes are growing along with local and global recognition.

One of the challanges for new local leaders elected in the regional elections 2015 is how they can erase intolerant policies and actions, lack of infrastruture, malfunction of bureaucracy, poverty and inequality, etc because our people have a new hope for Indonesia's growing democracy.

Citizens also have new hope that the results of more elections in the coming years will indicate where Indonesia's democracy is heading, and whether new leaders' performance can help reduce the alarming trend of the tyranny of the majority across the country, an ugly hangover from the authoritarian rule.

Although the regional elections 2015 are not free from problems, but with our local wisdoms and the mature of our democracy, we must be optimistic that we can solve all of the problems through peaceful ways. There is no time left for us to be mutually antagonistic.

Instead, it is time for us to build this nation amid the fact that the global and regional challenges will be heavier in the era of Asean Economic Community (AEC) 2015. For now, that's already been a reason to celebrate our success in  holding the concurrent local elections 2015 that again proves the improvement of our democracy.
 
*) The writer earned his master from the University of Indonesia (UI).