Jakarta – Approaching the 2024 election contestation, new and non-parliamentary political parties face a number of challenges in order to pass the 4% electoral threshold. New and non-parliamentary political parties are required to find strategies to reach the people’s voice.
Executive Director of the Indonesian Survey Institute Djayadi Hanan outlined a number of challenges that must be faced. 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.
Third, the interest of voters to support new parties tends to decrease. The highest performance of new parties occurred in 2004. Fourth, the number of parties that entered parliament in several elections tended to be stable. This means that people’s choices tend to be stable towards the same parties.
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.
“So there is a tendency of more than 50%, voters will vote for the same party in the 2024 election. The total vote for the new party in 2004 was 21.3 percent, only losing to Golkar which received 22 percent more. That number has decreased to 7.2% in 2009 and beyond,” said Djayadi in the National Webinar held by the Moya Institute, Friday 21 July 2023. The webinar has the theme “Challenges and Opportunities for New Political Parties in the 2024 Election”.
“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. 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, “continued Djayadi.
And 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 said that there is still an opportunity for new political parties and non-parliamentary political parties to pass the 4% threshold in parliamentary seats. New political parties must have a strategy in offering ideas and ideas to generations Y and Z.
“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. The internet makes all parties have the same opportunity. Apart from that, Indonesian voters are dominated by Gen Y and Gen Z. Opportunities are open for new political parties if they can read the opportunities of this younger generation,” he said.
Observer on global and strategic issues Prof. Ambassador Imron Cotan said, every political party has the same space and opportunity to reach the largest number of voters in the upcoming elections. However, new political parties have bigger challenges.
Imron explained, the challenges started from the formation process which was not easy, the costs were not cheap, as well as having to deal with electoral battles against political parties that had existed for a long time.
Gelora Party Secretary General Mahfudz Siddiq said that new parties faced challenges due to the consequences of the General Election and Presidential Election which were held simultaneously.
“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.
Perindo Party Tuan Guru Bajang Daily Chairperson Zainul Mazdi said that new political parties still have a chance to enter and place their representatives in parliamentary seats. New political parties must have innovative ideas and ideas in gaining the voice of the people, especially Gen Y and Z.
“Young voters tend to want something new, they don’t want to be tied to the old standard. The meeting between the Presidential and Legislative Elections can be a challenge and an opportunity for the new political parties,” said Zainul.
