TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) estimates that President Joko Widodo alias Jokowi will have a hand in the 2024 Regional Head Elections or Pilkada. Perludem Program Manager, Fadli Ramadhanil, said that the politicization of social assistance and mobilization of the apparatus will still occur in the 2024 Pilkada.
Moreover, in the facts of the 2024 presidential election dispute trial, the politicization of social assistance and mobilization of the apparatus from the center to the village have been mentioned and strengthened through the dissenting opinions of three Constitutional Court judges.
“That (politicization of social assistance and mobilization of the apparatus) will also happen in the 2024 Pilkada,” said Fadli in a discussion on Reflection on Performance Monitoring Results and Measuring the Neutrality of Officials in the 2024 Pilkada on Monday, April 29, 2024 in the Cikini area, Central Jakarta.
Fadli suspects that Jokowi’s intervention efforts will be very visible in areas that are the battleground for members of his family or the government coalition supported by the former Solo Mayor.
According to him, efforts to politicize social assistance and mobilize the apparatus in the 2024 elections can actually be suppressed by the Constitutional Court’s decision. Unfortunately, said Fadli, the Constitutional Court’s decision to reject the arguments for the politicization of social assistance and the mobilization of the apparatus actually lowered the ethical and integrity limits in organizing elections.
“Even though it is difficult for us to hope for Bawaslu, it must still be encouraged in this Pilkada,” he said.
Likewise, Perludem Researcher Heroik Pratama said that the politicization of social assistance can be used, especially for acting regional heads who want to run in the 2024 Pilkada. Acting regional heads who are running can personalize social assistance for their electoral interests.
Therefore, Perludem urges the government to tighten the regulations governing the distribution of social assistance ahead of elections, especially the Pilkada which will be held simultaneously on November 27, 2024.
As is known, a number of Jokowi’s family members are planned to run in the Pilkada. The mayor of Medan and Jokowi’s son-in-law has received a recommendation letter from the Golkar Party to run in the North Sumatra election.
In addition to Bobby, President Jokowi’s family members who are planned to run in the elections are the President’s youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, and his wife, Erina Gudono. Kaesang is the Chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party, which is planned to run in the Jakarta Regional Election. Meanwhile, Erina is said to be promoted to run in the regent election in Sleman, Yogyakarta, by Gerindra Party.
Trias Politika Strategis Executive Director Agung Baskoro said that Jokowi’s influence in the regional elections could have a negative impact on the continuity of democracy. This is because the victory obtained by the President’s family members is considered to backfire on the good name of the former DKI Governor after stepping down.
“The label of President Jokowi will be very bad because he is considered power-hungry,” said Agung. Even so, according to him, negative labeling cannot stop the President’s family from winning in the regional elections.
This article was published on Tempo.co with the title “Perludem Predicts Jokowi Will Have a Hand in the 2024 Regional Elections”, https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1862116/perludem-prediksi-jokowi-bakal-cawe-cawe-di-pilkada-2024