CIDISS. The election of Regional Heads simultaneously in 2018 has already begun, and is currently entering the campaign period. The success of this democratic party is crucial to the consolidation of democracy in Indonesia as the success of democratic party management in the region will affect the overall political climate, especially in the run up to the 2019 Presidential Election.
Nevertheless, it is very unfortunate about the potential of a number of regions that will carry out the election of regional heads with a single candidate. The existence of a single candidate is certainly not prohibited in the Act, but it would be better if the election of regional heads is not implemented only with 1 candidate pair only. The existence of a single candidate causes the community difficult to make choices and make a bias because people can not judge the quality of vision and mission programs that are proclaimed.
Currently, there are 13 regions that will hold the election of regional heads with a single candidate, namely Padang Lawas, Prabumulih, Pasuruan, Lebak, Tangerang, Tangerang City, Tapin, Southeast Minahasa, ENrekang, Mamasa, Jayawijaya, Deli Serdang, and Mamberamo.
To overcome this, the General Elections Supervisory Board encourages the presence of an active monitoring body on the election day. This appeal is expressed by Bawaslu because the only party who has the legal standing to file a dispute with the election monitoring body. However, the agency needs to register first to the General Election Commission in order to be able to conduct official monitoring.
Nevertheless, based on Sunanto’s National Coordinator of People’s Education for People (JPPR) statement, monitoring of single-candidate head election is still difficult to do because the monitors will be face-to-face with the candidate. Therefore, it is expected that the active participation of the community in conducting supervision of regional head election in its territory. With the increasing number of parties overseeing the election of regional heads in a region, then the quality of regional head elections will be better.
By: Mirwan Achmad *)