KPU member: Party ID among Indonesians still very low
Dompu, NTB (ANTARA) - Member of the General Elections Commission (KPU) of the Republic of Indonesia Idham Kholik has assessed that the level of emotional closeness between the Indonesian public and political parties, or party identification (party ID), is still very low and remains one of the challenges in building relations between voters and political parties.
“Party ID in Indonesia is classified as very low. There is unease about the problems in our elections,” said Idham while attending the Coordination Meeting on Continuous Updating of Political Party Data for 2026 at the Dompu Regency KPU, West Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday.
According to Idham, the low party ID indicates that voters’ emotional attachment and sense of ownership towards a particular political party are not yet strong.
He also highlighted the phenomenon of swing voters as well as the practice of vote buying as part of the issues that need attention in the administration of elections.
“This is a source of unease, a problem in our elections,” he said.
According to him, these issues need to be a shared concern, not only for election organisers but also for political parties.
Political parties are considered to need to build sustained communication and political work with the public, not only when entering election stages.
In the forum, Idham also highlighted the importance of continuously updating political party data as part of preparations for the 2029 Election.
According to him, the updating of political party data ahead of the 2029 Election is expected to be more intensive than in the previous period.
Regional KPU offices, Idham said, are now more active in communicating with political party officials to encourage the updating of management and membership data.
He assessed that this timeframe is still needed because the stages of registration, verification and determination of political parties participating in the election require a complex process.
“Article 167 paragraph 6 of the Election Law to this day remains effectively in force as a norm,” he said.
Idham said national-level political parties have begun actively communicating with the KPU to find out the estimated schedule for political party registration in facing the 2029 Election.
According to him, this communication shows that political parties are beginning to prepare the requirements needed in the registration and verification process.
Based on the five-year cycle, the voting day for the 2029 Election falls on 14 February 2029 according to the calendar. However, that date is estimated to coincide with the end of Ramadan or the beginning of Syawal, so the KPU needs to adjust the draft election stages.
The coordination meeting was attended by the Dompu Regency KPU, the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial KPU, the Dompu Regency Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), representatives of political parties, as well as the Technical Division of district/city KPUs throughout NTB online.