JAKARTA — Expert on global and strategic issues, Prof. Imron Cotan explained that actually all political parties have the same opportunity and opportunity to be able to win the votes of voters in the upcoming General Election.
So, in order to overcome this, according to him, there must be empowerment of local leaders with a national perspective because it will be able to break down the domination of the political elite that has accumulated in Java Island, so as to create political diversification throughout the region.
Not only that, the expert on strategic issues also explained the importance of the political parties’ attention to Generation Z and Millennial figures.
“If they are able to attract the support of the younger generation by using gadgets, new political parties have the potential to lead to the existence of political parties that were born earlier,” said Prof. Imron in the Moya Institute National Webinar with the theme “Challenges and Opportunities for New Political Parties in the 2024 Election”, Friday (21/7).
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Indonesian Survey Institute, Djayadi Hanan, said that the first challenge lies in the low identity of the party.
The volatility of new political parties is usually high at the local level, but tends to be low at the national level and there is a tendency for voters to choose the same party, while public interest in them continues to decline.
“The new party’s total vote in 2004 was 21.3 percent, only losing to Golkar which received 22 percent more. That number decreased to 7.2% in 2009 and beyond,” said Djayadi.
Even so, new political parties still have a chance, namely with the possibility that 85 percent of voters in Indonesia can easily switch support and a high number of swing voters. In addition, the use of social media and the internet can also be the right step.
“Party ID in Indonesia is very small. This means that, in theory, 85 percent of Indonesian voters can easily switch to another political party. If you only use this one indicator, the swing voter will be very high. In addition, internet users are also very high, “explained Djayadi.
On the other hand, the Secretary General of the Gelora Party, Mahfudz Siddiq explained that the challenges faced by new political parties and non-parliamentary political parties were due to holding simultaneous elections so that it would benefit the party carrying the presidential candidate.
“When the issue of the Presidential Election strengthens, what is called a cottail effect appears. Political parties get votes from their support for presidential candidates. Parties that do not have support for presidential candidates will face electability problems,” said Mahfudz.
