Parties Look to Failed ‘Pilkada’ Candidates for 2019 Elections

Political parties are looking at regional head candidates who failed to gain votes in the 2018 \'Pilkada\' (regional elections) to run in the 2019 legislative election. If they are looking to be progressive, the parties should also look at young candidates.

ANTARA FOTO/AHMAD SUBAIDI

A resident waits for his turn to vote in the 2018 West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) gubernatorial election at TPS 015 polling station, Peresak Tempit neighborhood, Ampenan Tengah subdistrict, Mataram, NTB, Wednesday (27/6/2018). Besides electing the NTB governor, the local people also elected the regents of West Lombok and East Lombok as well as the mayor of Bima.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Candidates who failed in the 2018 regional elections have received offered from their political party backers to become run in the 2019 general election. The candidates are believed popular and to have networks and political machines that are still active in the regions.

This belief has arisen because history has shown that a number of candidates who had failed in the regional elections still managed to win a legislative seat.

At the same time, several parties are prioritizing current lawmakers to run again for the legislature.

The parties are taking various strategies to win seats in the general election to be held on April 17, 2019, because candidate registration will run from Wednesday (4/7/2018) to July 17 for the House of Representatives (DPR), Regional Legislative Councils (DPRDs), and Regional Representative Councils (DPDs).

Following the process verifying and vetting candidates and requesting public feedback, the draft list of candidates will be drawn up from Aug. 8 to 12, while the candidate list will be finalized on Sept. 20.

In order to commence the stages of candidate registration, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has granted political parties access to its candidacy data system to provide information on their proposed candidates. On June 30, the KPU also issued KPU Regulation No. 20.2018 on legislative candidates.

"We are ready to serve political parties in nominating their best cadres to the DPR and DPRD candidacies," KPU member Wahyu Setiawan said in Jakarta on Monday (2/7).

KOMPAS/SAMUEL OKTORA

West Java gubernatorial candidate Tubagus Hasanuddin congratulates Ridwan Kamil on his victory in the 2018 regional elections at Hotel Papandayan, Bandung City, West Java, Wednesday (27/6/2018).

Legislative candidates

Gerindra Party central executive board chairman Ahmad Riza Patria said that of those on the party’s legislative candidate list, which is now being finalized, about 70 percent were party cadres who were also current House members. “In general, the incumbent legislative members will run for reelection in 2019. Of course, there will be new faces from both inside and outside the party that account for about 30 percent [of candidates],” he said.

The incumbent lawmakers, according to Riza, would be facilitated because they had been tested, synergized and cooperated with the party. "However, there is still the possibility of new candidates from outside the party who have better skills," he said.

The results of the 2018 regional elections, said Riza, would provide input for the party to evaluate its strategy in facing the 2019 general election. One of Gerindra’s strategies was to offer candidates who had failed in last week’s regional elections to run for the legislature under the Gerindra banner.

"We see our struggling cadres who have influence and public sympathy. We will make an effort to promote the regional candidates who might lose [in the regional elections], to run for the legislature," he said.

United Development Party (PPP) secretary-general Arsul Sani said his party was also offering the legislative candidacy to both PPP cadres and non-cadres that had run for regional head, but were unlikely to win in the local elections.

So far, approximately 10 Pilkada candidates had registered as legislative candidates after failing to gain sufficient votes in the regional elections. "There are those to whom we have made the offer, but there are also others who said from the beginning that if they were unsuccessful in the regional elections, they would run as legislative candidates," Arsul said.

The policy of supporting regional election candidates for the general election, according to Arsul, could be good for the parties. The reason was that even though they had failed in the regional election, the candidates were already known among the electorate in the regions they represented. Moreover, they had just participated in one election, so the candidates’ political network was still actively maintained and their political platforms, including campaign teams and volunteers, were still active and sympathetic.

Under the same consideration, National Mandate Party (PAN) secretary-general Eddy Soeparno said his party was opening opportunities to candidates who had failed in the 2018 regional elections to vie for PAN’s legislative seats in the 2019 general election.

ANTARA FOTO/OKY LUKMANSYAH

Central Java Gubernatorial candidate Sudirman Said (left) looks at a voting board when visiting TPS 21 polling station in Slatri village, Brebes, Central Java, Wednesday (27/6/2018). Sudirman encouraged people to exercise their voting rights in the 2018 regional elections.

Young candidates

Researcher Panji Anugrah at the University of Indonesia’s political science department said that if the parties intended to be progressive in the upcoming election, they should also invite young legislative candidates.

"Their presence can bring new ideas and innovations to the legislature, even though their reach is relatively short because their network is not as broad as [senior] politicians who have a lot of experience. However, their presence will give color," said Panji.

The step was necessary because many parties had complained about the House’s image and performance.

Moreover, in demographic terms, the millennial generation of people aged 15-34 was growing. About 32.6 percent (85 million people) of the country’s total population in 2017, which the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded at 261 million people, fell within the millennial generation (Kompas, 2/11/2017). Most of them are of voting age (17) or are already married.

Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) secretary-general Raja Juli Antoni said that his party was prioritizing young candidates in proposing its list of legislative candidates, understanding that the age range could be too narrow. According to him, the PSI wanted to encourage leadership regeneration and transformation in an effort to encourage more young people and women to participate in national politics.

"Young people have only been the object of a political contest, but have never been party decision-makers," said Raja Juli.

(GAL/AGE/EDN/SAN/NTA/BOW)