Observer on global and strategic issues, Prof. Imron Cotan, said that new political parties (political parties) or non-parliamentary parties are faced with a fierce electoral battle against political parties that existed before. Meanwhile, the voter niche is narrowing to around 15 percent.
Imron explained, to be able to win voter support and pass the electoral threshold, new and non-parliamentary political parties are challenged to be able to present new and fresh ideas. This at the same time offers a solution to the problems faced by the millennial generation and Gen Z, which account for around 50 percent of the 206 million voters, referring to BPS 2022 data.
According to Imron, the prominence of local figures with national and global perspectives is also important to break the domination of the political elite which is piled up in big cities on the island of Java. The 2024 contest opens up those opportunities.
“The important thing to note is that the Millennial Generation and Generation Z are detected as not having a “fixed” ideological choice, apart from being fixated on gadgets. “If they are able to attract the support of the younger generation using gadgets, new political parties have the potential to lead to the existence of political parties that were born earlier,” said Prof. Imron at the Moya Institute National Webinar with the theme “Challenges and Opportunities for New Political Parties in the 2024 Election”, Friday, 21 July 2023.
In the same place, Executive Director of the Indonesian Survey Institute Djayadi Hanan outlined a number of challenges that new political parties must face.
First, political parties are faced with a low Party ID (party identity). Second, political party volatility is high at the provincial level, but tends to be low at the national level.
“So there is a tendency of more than 50%, voters will choose the same party in the 2024 elections,” said Djayadi in the National Webinar held by the Moya Institute, Friday 21 July 2023.
Third, the interest of voters to support new parties tends to decrease. The highest new party performance occurred in 2004.
“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.
Fourth, the number of parties that have entered parliament in recent elections tends to be stable. This means that people’s choices tend to be stable towards the same parties.
“The average age of the party is above 15 years. Only two parties are over 10 years old. This means that the parties in the DPR will survive. This makes it difficult for new parties to enter.”
Fifth, new political parties are not widely known in the public. The new party, according to Djayadi, only has about 60 percent of the popularity to sustain it in parliament. “Party socialization efforts are key. The problem is the residence time is less than seven months. It is necessary to accelerate the recognition of the party by the public,” he said.
Sixth, all political parties have the same tendency regarding economic, political and social policies. The political parties have not been able to differentiate themselves from each other in this matter.
“That is what causes the choice of party to be stable. What distinguishes between parties at this time is only a matter of how the relationship between Islam and politics. The question is, which niche will the new party play in?” Djayadi said.
Even so, Djayadi concluded that there is still an opportunity for new political parties and non-parliamentary political parties to pass the threshold.
The Secretary General of the DPP Gelora Party Mahfudz Siddiq said that there were consequences for the new political parties to receive the concurrent implementation of the 2023 Presidential Election and the 2023 Legislative Election. He said that the simultaneous events made the public’s attention more concentrated on the presidential election rather than discussing the figures who would qualify for parliament.
“Political parties that have presidential candidates will benefit more because they can boost the electability of their party, in contrast to new political parties. This requires extra effort by new political parties to socialize. The only way is to join in on the endorsement of certain presidential candidates,” said Mahfudz.
The Perindo Party Tuan Guru Bajang Daily Chairperson Zainul Mazdi said, amidst the various challenges that exist, new political parties still have great opportunities and opportunities to qualify for parliament or win seats in the DPR.
“An example of my own party is Perindo, which in the last 1.5 years has experienced an increase in electability and it continues to increase to this day. This proves that public acceptance of new political parties continues to exist. Moreover, Perindo runs programs that directly touch the lives of the lower classes, TGB concluded.