Social Media and the Internet Hope New Political Parties Increase Electability in the Eyes of the Public
JAKARTA — There is still hope for new political parties to be able to continue to increase their electoral numbers or electability in the public at large, one of which is through optimizing the use of social media and the internet.
The Executive Director of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Djayadi Hanan stated that there were 85 percent of voters in Indonesia who found it easy to switch to another political party (political party).
This is because party identity (Party ID) in the country is very small.
“Party ID in Indonesia is very small. This means that, in theory, 85 percent of Indonesian voters can easily move to another political party,” he said.
Of course, if you use this indicator, the number of swing voters in Indonesia is also very high.
What’s more, actually for new political parties and non-parliamentary political parties, in fact they also still have the same opportunities when they are able to use social media and the internet very optimally.
“In addition, internet users are very high. The internet makes all parties have the same opportunity,” said Djayadi.
Meanwhile, an observer on global and strategic issues, Prof. Ambassador Imron Cotan revealed, in order to gain voter support and pass the electoral threshold, new political parties and non-parliamentary political parties are challenged to be able to present new and fresh ideas, while offering solutions to the problems faced by Millennials and Generation Z, who account for around 50 percent of the 206 million voters (BPS, 2022).
“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,” said Prof. Imron.
In a similar vein, the Secretary General of the Gelora Party Mahfudz Siddiq said that the new party 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.
Meanwhile, Moya Institute Executive Director Hery Sucipto said, no matter how dynamic the political and democratic contestation in 2024 is, it is hoped that elections will take place in a democratic, peaceful and mature manner while presenting qualified leaders.
“Old and new political parties both have challenges and opportunities. The new narrative they carry will have a different impact. Identification of issues is the most important thing to convince voters, “concluded Hery.
