After People's Trust Was Given to Legislative Candidates...

The legislative elections are used by parties as a "promotional test" for regional elections. In fact, the people's mandate is given to the legislature.

Not long ago the General Election Commission announced the results of the 2024 Election, a number of political parties have opened the door to their legislative candidate candidates who have a high chance of being elected in the legislative election to run in the 2024 national simultaneous regional head elections. , they have been trusted by the people to be their representatives in parliament. There are indications that the classic problems of political parties, namely cadre formation and regeneration, have not been resolved.

In early April, or just about two weeks after the KPU plenary meeting on the recapitulation of the 2024 election results, Chairman of the Golkar Party Airlangga Hartarto has already voiced that his party will nominate Airin Rachmi Diany to run in the Banten Governor Election (Pilgub).

Airin is the Mayor of South Tangerang, Banten (2011-2021). In the last legislative election (pileg), Airin ran from the electoral district (dapil) Banten III which includes the City and Regency of Tangerang and the City of South Tangerang. He also managed to get up to 302,878 votes or the highest among the other legislative candidates in the electoral district, so there is a big chance that the KPU will determine him as one of the legislative candidates who will win the seat in Senayan.

Following the instruction from the party, Airin declared her readiness to resign as a legislative member if assigned by the Golkar Party to run in the Banten Governor Election.

Also read: Elected Legislative Candidates Who Run for Regional Elections Are Considered Not Carrying Out the People's Mandate

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The General Chairman of the Women's Unity Central Leadership of the Golkar Party, Airin Rachmi Diany, joined a delegation led by Golkar Party Secretary General, Lodewijk Freidich Paulus, to visit the office of the Election Commission in Jakarta to submit the candidacy file for their prospective parliamentary member, on Sunday (14/5/2023).

Not only Airin, Airlangga also announced the high-performing electoral candidates from Golkar. Golkar will also nominate Bobby Nasution, the Mayor of Medan, North Sumatra, who is also the son-in-law of President Joko Widodo, as the potential candidate for Governor of North Sumatra.

In the electoral district of West Java I (City of Bandung and City of Cimahi), Atalia Praratya will be advanced in the Bandung mayoral election. The wife of former West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil received 234,065 votes, or 63.9 percent of Golkar's vote achievement in West Java I electoral district of 366,052 votes in the previous legislative election.

Outside of Golkar, several other political parties are also preparing their candidates, especially those who have garnered a large number of votes and have the potential to make it to the parliament, to run in the regional elections. Take for example the Nasdem Party which has announced its candidate in the Jakarta III region (North Jakarta, West Jakarta, and Thousand Islands), Ahmad Sahroni, as an option to be put forward in the Jakarta Gubernatorial Election.

This is the result of a realistic calculation by political parties which really need figures with high electability.

In addition to the candidates for the legislative body who are being voiced to run in the regional election (Pilkada), there are also candidates for the regional legislative council (DPRD) who garnered significant votes in the legislative election (Pileg) and are preparing to run in the mayoral/regent election. One of them is Parosil Mabsus, a candidate for the Lampung Provincial DPRD who ran in the Lampung IV electoral district (Tanggamus Regency, West Coast Regency, and West Lampung Regency) in the previous legislative election. The regent of West Lampung for the 2017-2022 period, who is also the Chairman of the PDI-P Lampung Barat Regional Executive Board, has taken the registration form for prospective regional head candidates at the local PDI-P office.

Regarding this phenomenon, the Chairman of the Central Executive Board (DPP) of the Golkar Party, Dave Laksono, stated that his party determines the figure who runs in the regional elections through evaluation or weighting that includes achievements, dedication, loyalty, and virtuousness. Golkar also considers the potential candidate's dedication to the party, performance, and community response.

It doesn't matter if the legislative candidate becomes cagub/district head

The National Mandate Party (PAN) also takes a similar stance. According to the Chairman of the PAN Expert Council, Dradjad Hari Wibowo, it is not a problem if a legislative candidate then runs for a regional election. This is because legislative candidates and regional head candidates have one thing in common, namely they have a high mass base and electability. Direct elections by the people demand political parties to nominate candidates who have these two aspects.

"So, if there is a shift from legislative candidates to regional leaders or vice versa, it is not a phenomenon of grasshopper jumping or a reflection of political parties lacking cadre. This is the result of realistic calculations by political parties that do indeed need figures with high electability," he said.

Those who have never been involved in managing political parties are considered to have difficulty accepting such facts. Because the popularity and hard work of the political parties in winning their candidates go hand in hand.

Also read: Not "Hopping Fleas", Political Parties Call Elected Legislative Candidates for Regional Elections Due to Realistic Counts

Therefore, Dradjad predicted that the phenomenon of elected legislative candidates who participate in the regional elections will still be rampant in the upcoming regional elections at the end of November, or similar to the previous regional elections. "Yes (the phenomenon still continues), I think there will be some like that. It depends on realistic calculations of political parties regarding their electability," he said.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) also does not consider the phenomenon as a problem. It is not impossible for PKS legislative candidates who have successfully gained significant votes in the legislative election to be nominated by their party to run in the regional election. In fact, this way, the votes obtained in the legislative election can be a capital to achieve victory in the regional election.

Perhaps the voices in the legislative elections could become the basis for target votes in the regional elections, even though usually the bases differ between legislative and regional elections. Regional elections focus more on figures and leadership qualities.

"Perhaps the voices in the legislative election could be a basis for targeting votes in the regional election, although usually the basis is different between the two. The regional election is more about figures and leadership," said Chairman of the PKS Central Executive Board, Mardani Ali Sera. Mardani was re-elected in the legislative election, and his name is being considered by PKS as one of the options to be nominated for the Jakarta regional election.

Must withdraw

Referring to the decision of the Constitutional Court No. 12/PUU-XXII/2024, which was read last February, the General Elections Commission (KPU) was asked to require elected candidates from the 2024 General Elections who participate in regional elections to provide a letter of statement agreeing to resign once they have been inaugurated as legislative members.

The elected legislative candidates who run for regional elections leave behind the mandate of the people before they are tasked with carrying out the mandate of their constituents.

As a consequence, the elected candidates who have been trusted by the people to represent them in parliament may potentially have to resign en masse from parliament after being inaugurated in October, if they decide to run in the regional elections. This will become a reality if the Election Commission (KPU) later makes technical regulations regarding candidacy requirements in regional elections that are in line with the mandate of the Constitutional Court's decision.

An election law lecturer from the University of Indonesia, Titi Anggraini, also criticized the plan of elected legislators to run in the regional elections. "Elected legislators who run in these regional elections are leaving the people's mandate before they have fulfilled their duties to carry out their constituents' orders," she said.

He also sees political parties taking a pragmatic approach. Political parties only use those figures as vote gatherers for the elections so that the party can acquire many seats in the parliament. This is not limited to that, parties also seem to make the elections a means of testing electability as well as introducing certain figures.

Also read: DPR seats for the party elite, who else after Ratu Wulla?

If the party's target is achieved and the intended figure is successfully elected in the legislative elections with a large number of votes, the political party then promotes them to the regional head election. Once again, the political party is pursuing victory in the regional head election. The chance of victory is high because the elected legislative candidate already has a certain amount of votes. The public memory of the legislative candidate is also still fresh, considering the time since the recent election.

The phenomenon of elected legislative candidates running for regional elections is also an illustration of the problems of cadre formation and regeneration, which indicate the limited number of competent figures within political parties. This condition results in political recruitment ultimately relying on certain politicians only.

"Voters should be vigilant in observing this phenomenon in order to not hastily choose pragmatic candidates and mere political opportunists for regional leaders," he said.