Observer: Opposing Empty Boxes Is Not A Sign Of Good Democracy But A Sign Of Pseudo Democracy

Gibran Campaign in Solo (Instagram @gibranrakabuming)

JAKARTA - Political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Dini Suryani assessed that fighting empty boxes should not be an option in the regional head election system (Pilkada) in an area, although this often happens. This is because fighting empty boxes is not a good democratic process.

This was conveyed by Dini in response to the statement of the Secretary General of the PDI-P Hasto Kristiyanto who said there was no problem if the candidate for mayor and deputy mayor of Solo, Gibran Rakabuming Raka-Teguh Prakosa, had no opponent in the 2020 Pilwalkot Solo.

"In my opinion (fighting the empty box, ed) is not a good democratic process. This is a pseudo-democracy or pseudo-democracy," Dini told VOI, Monday, July 27.

He emphasized that a good democratic process in a regional head election should still provide opponents to compete. "If the opponent is an empty box, then there is no competition," he said.

Dini said, there needs to be another party in Solo that declares itself as the opposition and puts Gibran-Teguh in a rival so that they don't fight empty boxes. Although they must be ready to lose, this is necessary to maintain the quality of existing democracy.

"Apart from competition, democracy also needs opposition as a control mechanism," he said.

Adding to Dini's statement, political observer Aisah Putri Budiarti said that regional elections against empty boxes were not actually the best choice to build democracy in Indonesia. This is because it provides unhealthy political education for the people because they have no other choice for comparison.

"Voters cannot compare program offerings from one candidate to another. In fact, this is an important democratic learning process for society," said Putri.

Furthermore, pilkada against empty boxes can also mean the failure of political parties to form their cadres. In fact, before the elections take place each party has five years to prepare candidates for regional head, especially those from internal parties.

"But when all parties in a coalition carry only one candidate, it shows that the party has failed to carry out its political recruitment function and a pragmatic tendency to nominate other party candidates who are certain to win," he explained.

Moreover, the election process against empty boxes actually has technical risks and costs. "If it turns out that the empty box election will be won by an empty box instead of a single candidate then the pilkada must be repeated and of course it will cost a lot of implementation costs," he said.

The candidate for mayor and deputy mayor of Solo, Gibran Rakabuming Raka-Teguh Prakosa, is predicted to have no opponents or will fight an empty box.

PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto said the regional election against empty boxes was not a problem because it was a healthy democratic process.

"The Constitutional Court has regulated that when there is a tendency for people to become single candidates because the basis of their legitimacy is strong enough, the public is still given the empty box option. So that is a healthy democratic process," said Hasto in an online press conference, Friday, July 24.

In addition, he considered, the joining of other parties to support Gibran-Teguh in the Solo Pilwalkot was a sign of strong legitimacy and a sign that their leadership was accepted. This support, continued Hasto, will be a new challenge in order to show leadership in accordance with the expectations of the people of Solo.

"With so much support, it is a challenge to present a leadership model that truly represents all the expectations of the community where they both will represent," he concluded.