Anies Baswedan in the Jakarta Regional Head Election

IN the hands of a political cartel, a regional head election can be effortlessly changed from a festival into a disaster of democracy. Joko Widodo, at the end of his presidency, together with a number of political parties, has used transactions and intimidation to obstruct Anies Baswedan in his run for the governorship of Jakarta.

Although he promised not to intervene in the 2024 regional head elections, Jokowi and the Indonesia Onward Coalition (KIM), which supports Prabowo Subianto, are maneuvering to ensure Ridwan Kamil becomes Jakarta governor for the 2024-2029 term. The first action they took was to hijack the three parties supporting Anies: the Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), the National Democrat (NasDem) Party, and the National Awakening Party (PKB). As well as offering political and economic compensation, the group is reported to have put pressure on senior party officials using criminal cases. All this is to ensure that Ridwan Kamil’s opponent is an empty box on the ballot paper, or a dummy candidate, meaning he will win an easy victory.

Jokowi’s is ambitious for Ridwan Kamil’s victory because he wants his youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, to run for deputy governor. Anies is an obstacle to this because in many ways, he has an advantage over Ridwan. Obstructing Anies by arranging for an uncontested election or a dummy independent opponent is the most sneaky way of winning.

Jokowi’s desire to find a job for his son is in line with the interests of president-elect Prabowo Subianto. Ridwan contesting the governorship of Jakarta will clear the way for Gerindra Party politician Dedi Mulyadi to run for governor of West Java. Ridwan is currently the strongest candidate there. Another advantage from obstructing Anies is that it will reduce the number of potential rivals to Prabowo if he runs for a second term in 2029.

The combination of these two interests has given Jokowi and his political cartel plenty of room to maneuver. They have used their political strength to wear down the parties supporting Anies one by one. It is not difficult for Jokowi to use the same strategy he employed in the recent presidential election: threaten political opponents with criminal charges and tempt them with money.

The PKS, which has the largest number of seats in the Jakarta Regional Legislative Council (DPRD), has been promised the compensation of the deputy governorship if Kaesang does not run alongside Ridwan Kamil. Meanwhile, NasDem has been threatened in connection with a criminal case. Hanan Supangkat, the NasDem Deputy Treasurer, is allegedly caught up in a corruption case involving former Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, which has been investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The PKB has also been hobbled. General Chair Muhaimin Iskandar is in dispute with the leadership of the Nahdlatulal Ulama, and he could lose his job if the PKB does not join the KIM Plus coalition that will back Ridwan Kamil. It is therefore almost certain that these three parties will desert Anies. And the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), even if it wants to support Anies, cannot act alone because it does not have enough seats in the Jakarta DPRD.

The tactic of ‘buying up’ parties in order to ensure there is only one candidate running against an blank box on the ballot paper is increasingly common in regional elections. In 2020, 25 candidate pairings ran uncontested, and went on to win. The number will be higher this year. According to the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), if there is no change to the political agreements already announced, there will be 34 regional elections with only one candidate pairing standing.

This strategy of robbing people’s rights through uncontested elections must be opposed. Bogus elections will put an end to the essence of elections as a way of democratically choosing leaders. The ‘empty box’ tactic will result in elected regional leaders becoming servants of party leaders, without any feeling of the need to repay voters for electing them.

In order to fight back against the blank box on the ballot paper, voters should make their mark in the blank squares when they are at the ballot box. If the sole candidates are not elected, the elections will have to be rerun. The political process will be longer, but this is the best way to resist, with respect, those who are wrecking democracy.