Suara.com – The 2024 Jakarta elections are expected to be followed by one independent or non-party pair of candidates. However, based on the findings of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), the independent candidate was deliberately raised so that the Jakarta elections appeared to remain democratic without an empty box.
“I think there is one pair, now it is still in the verification stage. But I don’t know what the update is on this individual candidate. Last time I met with the KPU there was one pair,” said Perludem researcher Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyati when met in Jakarta, Tuesday (13/7/2024).
The woman who is familiarly called Ninis suspects that the independent candidate is deliberately designed by the political elite so that the Jakarta governor-candidate nominated by the party does not fight the empty box. The allegation was triggered by the sudden appearance of the independent candidate.
“This individual candidate’s support has increased in just a short time. Of course there are allegations there so that there is no empty box. But the competition is not genuine, not really a competition because there is no room for discussion,” explained Ninis.
It is known that the strongest candidate for Jakarta governor to date is Ridwan Kamil, who is supported by the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) plus.
Meanwhile, Anies Baswedan’s advancement as a Jakarta governor candidate is vulnerable to failure because the two parties that originally gave him support, Nasdem and PKB, offered to join KIM Plus.
As a result, the emergence of an independent candidate is a ‘dirty strategy’ so that only Ridwan Kamil does not fight an empty box in the Jakarta elections.
This condition, said Ninis, is one of the impacts of the elections being held simultaneously in the same year. Because, political parties become hostage to each other for personal interests.
“I don’t think this can be repeated, elections and regional elections in the same year end up like this, holding each other hostage. Just after the election, we already know each other’s strengths, we can use them in the regional elections, it will be unhealthy,” he concluded.
For information, the Jakarta KPU will announce the results of the factual verification (verfak) stage of the two candidates for governor and deputy governor from the individual path Dharma Pongrekun and Kun Wardana on Monday (19/7/2024).
Factual verification will be the last chance that Dharma-Kun goes through in order to advance to the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada. If they pass, they could become the first independent candidate pair to contest the Jakarta elections.
This article has been published on Suara.com with the title “Political Elite’s ‘Dirty’ Setting, Perludem Says There Will Be Independent Governor Candidates in Jakarta Pilkada”, https://www.suara.com/news/2024/08/13/133651/settingan-kotor-elit-politik-perludem-sebut-bakal-ada-calon-gubernur-independen-di-pilkada-jakarta.