Abstention not significant in 2004 polls: Experts
Abstention not significant in 2004 polls: Experts
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite high public distrust toward political parties, abstention
will not be that significant in the 2004 general elections,
political analysts say.
The number of people not exercising their voting rights may
be negligible, should political parties improve their performance
ahead of the elections.
E. Shobirin Nadj, a researcher with the Institute for Economic
and Social Research, Education, and Information (LP3ES), told a
discussion here on Friday that those who distrusted political
parties could still vote for individuals as this would be
possible in the open-list legislative election and the direct
presidential election.
"The public's distrust toward political parties does not
necessarily mean that the people will abstain in elections,
because they can vote for individuals to be legislators,"
Shobirin said.
Indonesia will hold legislative elections in April 2004 and
the two-phased direct presidential elections in June and
September 2004.
Abstention is defined as an intentional act by a registered
voter not to cast their vote in an election.
Shobirin said the number of people not exercising their voting
rights in Indonesia's polls had never exceeded seven percent.
A survey by LP3ES in May revealed that the number of people
intending to abstain from voting in the 2004 election was four
percent.
The total registered voters in the upcoming elections is about
145 million people.
Analyst J. Kristiadi concurred with Shobirin, but had his own
theory.
According to him, the abstention issue was the discourse of
people in urban areas, not the people in rural areas. "People in
the countryside still have high hopes for the general elections
and will cast their votes," said Kristiadi, a researcher with the
Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
He added that, abstention would not be high because of
"mobilization" through the practice of money politics.
"In the New Order era, mass mobilization was conducted by
state officials. But, now political leaders use money to mobilize
the people," Kristiadi said.
Meanwhile, deputy secretary general of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Pramono Anung
Wibowo, also said Friday that abstention would not be significant
in 2004 elections because people could vote individuals not
political parties.
All three speakers strongly rejected any move to ban
abstention.
Shobirin emphasized that abstention was the instrument of the
public, to pressure political parties to improve their
performance.
"I believe political parties will never reform themselves
without public pressure," Shobirin said.
Kristiadi suggested that people supporting abstention prepare
the next step to improve democracy. He said political parties
would be bankrupted should the number of people abstaining the
elections keep getting higher.