Avoid The Phenomenon Of Single Vs Empty Box Candidates, DPR Encourages Revision Of Regional Head Election Law

Illustration of the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Guspardi Gaus, is pushing for improvements to the regulations or revision of the Regional Head Election Law (Pilkada) to avoid the phenomenon of a single candidate for regional head against an empty box.

"In the future, regulations must be improved, namely the Pilkada Law. If the election regulations are changed, it can close the opportunity for a single candidate," said Guspardi, Wednesday, September 18.

"It must be avoided that there are only candidates. If there are regulations, the party is helpless, the candidate pair can't do anything," he added.

Guspardi explained that the emergence of single candidates was caused by current regulations that paved the way for it. According to him, the decision of the Constitutional Court Number 60/2024 which reduced the threshold for nominating regional heads from political parties and coalitions of political parties is said to be able to change the pattern and relationship between coalitions of political parties.

"Because even though there is a Constitutional Court decision, there are still many regions in Indonesia that are only followed by single candidates. It shows that the candidate pair is not ready to run, not ready to win and lose, we are ready to lose if we go forward. Don't just be ready to win," explained Guspardi.

Guspardi assessed that the number of single candidates in the Pilkada also reflected the failure of political parties in carrying out regeneration. Because, according to him, it shows that there are no qualified cadres to be promoted by political parties in the Pilkada.

"If there is a single candidate, it means that the 18 parties failed to provide political education to the cadres and administrators. So it dwarfs the party itself, why not advance its cadres," he said.

For this reason, Guspardi encourages the revision of the Pilkada Law and the strengthening of political parties. Because if many people later choose empty boxes, it cannot be blamed and is considered a system failure.

" Choosing an empty box is still the right of voters who feel they do not match the candidate pairs offered," said Guspardi.

As is known, although the KPU has extended the registration period for candidates, until the end of the extension period there are still many regions that have single candidates. The Indonesian KPU noted that for the time being there were 35 regions that only had single candidates after the Pilkada registration was extended on September 12-14, 2024.