Jakarta – The voter turnout in the 2024 regional elections has decreased in several areas, including Jakarta and North Sumatra. Researcher from the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Haykal, highlighted this phenomenon.
“In North Sumatra, it’s around 50 percent, and the same goes for Jakarta.” “If we count the valid votes in Jakarta, it’s only about 53 percent of the total number of registered voters. If we calculate the overall voters present at the polling stations based on the ballots used, it’s around 57 percent,” said Haykal when contacted on Tuesday (02/12/2024).
According to Haykal, the low voter turnout in the 2024 Pilkada is influenced by various factors. For example, the limited time for socialization conducted by the election organizers.
“We understand that the process of organizing the regional elections this time is quite short, so the KPU also faces difficulties or obstacles in conducting massive socialization, unlike in the presidential and legislative elections where the time for socialization was quite long,” he explained.
In addition, he also highlighted the limited number of Polling Places. (TPS). Haykal opined that the number of polling stations available during the 2024 regional elections is only half of the polling stations in the 2024 general elections. Additionally, there are polling stations located quite far away, which makes voters reluctant to come and exercise their voting rights during the election.
“There are also non-technical factors that we believe tend to be the main factors.” For example, related to voter fatigue or what is called vote perspective, where voters are already tired of the political process and the elections that have occurred because the residue from the February elections is still felt by the voters,” added Haykal.
Not only that, Haykal mentioned, dissatisfaction with the candidates also affects the low voter turnout during the election.
“Voters do not see any choices or there is no figure that the community truly desires in the regional elections. For example, in the Jakarta regional elections, we can see names that were heard and even had high electability before the registration process but then failed to gain support from political parties.”
Long-term Impact of Not Voting
Haykal also revealed the impact and consequences of the high number of abstentions in elections. One of them is that it can reduce the legitimacy of the elected leaders.
“It means there is low legitimacy regarding the election of an individual or pair in the regional election,” he explained.
He added that low legitimacy will be a major challenge for leaders in running the government.
“Well, this low legitimacy will become a heavy burden when the winner of the regional election carries out their functions in the government, implementing programs and policies. There will be a stronger effort needed to prove that they still deserve to be elected and to win against the other regional election contestants,”
Haykal hopes that this phenomenon of abstaining from voting can serve as an important evaluation to increase voter participation in the future.
“Hopefully, in some regions facing such contexts, where voter turnout is low, the winning leaders must prove themselves and put in more effort to demonstrate their worthiness,” he concluded.
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