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The General Elections Commission, or KPU, has announced the final list of legislative candidates. This list will be voted on by party constituents at the beginning of April 2009.
Although candidates are meant to be rigorously vetted during the selection process, suspect candidates still get nominated. This suggests that there is a lack of will on the part of the party elite to get their own political houses in order. Bad candidates will not just create a bad impression, they will also damage public opinion. Candidate selection is one of the main defining functions of political parties in a democracy. It reflects how a party should be seen as an organization. If a political party has high standards and goes about the recruitment process in a democratic fashion, it demonstrates that it is ready to compete in the election process with the same values. On the contrary, when the selection is not transparent and does not involve public debate, it means the party will be greeted with suspicion. The party recruitment process has invited public debate in recent days. Political party cadres in many regions have protested the selection mechanism that rejected local branch decisions and chose external figures as candidates. The centralized and closed nature of candidate selection is not just an issue for big political parties, such as the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, but also for small and new political parties. such as the People’s Conscience Party, or Hanura. The change in the legislative election system has also changed the internal recruitment mechanism of some political parties. The system that gives a better chance of winning a seat to candidates on the list if they can collect
30 percent of the votes in their district has really impacted the internal recruitment system. Party elites feel their authority has been reduced. On the other hand, the image of political parties has been tarnished by a number of anticorruption investigations in the House. The results of local direct elections have proved that political parties are less popular than individual candidates, especially young candidates who have a good track record and are nominated by a coalition of small political parties. Party elites have to balance the need to select popular candidates with the need to recruit cadres and new politicians. The implementation of the open candidacy mechanism, where the most votes takes the seat, is one solution. But this mechanism still has its critics. The open mechanism will reduce money politics and place all the candidates on a level playing field. It will also eliminate the problems of appointing candidates to the list. But on the other hand, this system will reduce the probability of marginalized groups getting seats in the legislature, and harm the affirmative action requirement of a 30 percent quota for women. The new election system will also impact accountability in campaign financing. In the New Legislative Election Law, only political parties and candidates have the obligation to report their campaign finances. It will be very difficult for the public to know how individual candidates receive and use campaign contributions. Regarding the selection process, many nongovernmental activists in the country have joined the “Don’t Vote for Rotten Politicians Movement.” Political parties must be transparent when selecting candidates, and public comment should be invited. Political parties must pay serious attention to this. Public participation in the selection mechanism will help parties choose better candidates, while ensuring their popularity with voters. Ibrahim Zuhdhy Fahmy Badoh, The writer is deputy coordinator of the Indonesia Corruption Watch working committee. Source: The Jakarta Globe, December 4, 2008 |
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