Strengthening democracy in Indonesia provides an opportunity for women to involve informal politics. This condition is not only to show women's abilities but also to mainstream gender issues in public policy. This article explores cases of Rita Widyasari as Regent in Kutai Kartanegara and Yasti Soepredjo Mokoagow as Regent of Bolaang Mongondow to understand how they build political linkage in a local context. In this research, we use a qualitative method to gather deep information about women leaders and their linkage. The research shows that their success can not be separated from their ability to build and maintain the networks with various actors in the region, such as economic actors, civil society, and political actors. Although Rita and Yasti use a different pattern to build a local network, this research indicates that political linkage becomes one of the important points to establish women political career.

The strengthening of political identities, including the use of Islamic populism, has widely been used to explain the electoral victories and defeats of candidates at the municipal, provincial, and national levels. However, no study has been found to investigate this phenomenon in the village elections (pilkades) of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Our research, conducted in ten villages, did not find a tendency to use Islamic populism. Rather, in two villages—Baleharjo, Gunungkidul, and Temon Kulon, Kulon Progo—we identified an interesting phenomenon: the principle of inclusivity was used to ensure that competition was open to candidates of all backgrounds, including religious minorities. This article seeks to investigate this trend, which enabled religious minorities to be elected to the highest position within the village government: chief. It finds that minority candidates' electoral victory was made possible by several factors. Importantly, Islam's limited penetration into suburban Java restricted its ability to be used for identity politics in village elections.

Studies on non-voting behavior and which depart from social perspectives have long been stagnated due to the dominance of analysis that puts systems, institutionalization, political mechanisms and participation as the main viewpoints of the studies. This study using social perspectives is useful to explain why voters were not present at polling stations during the Medan 2018 Election. It elaborates the social aspects that influenced non-voting behavior in the urban area of Medan in North Sumatra, Indonesia during the 2018 gubernatorial election. Utilizing mix- method strategies, instead of citing social aspects as a mere research context, this article argues that social aspects in the form of social cleavages worked behind the silent apathy, namely apathy that was implicitly indicated by voters who were not present at polling stations. Social cleavages including ethnicity, religion and gender indicated a paradox since they—with the exception of gender—were used by candidates as the main campaign substance. On the other hand, large numbers of people showed disinterest in these social cleavages during the election. This article explains why abstained voters hid their disinterest behind their excuses for not being present at the polling stations for economic (working activities) and other reasons.

This article examines the practices of  patronage and clientelism during village elections. Examining Mekarsari Village, Yogyakarta, this study finds that patronage strategies such as programmatic politics, vote buying, club goods, and individual gifts were used by all candidates during village elections owing to the lack of  strong social bonds between candidates and voters. The incumbent with all advantages and access to material resources also used patronise and clientelism as strategy, but in fact, it cannot guarantee they win the election. This suggests that the societal relationships and practices of  patronage and clientelism continue to affect voter’s preference. Applying sociological, psychological, and rational approaches to understanding voter behaviour especially in Java, the study found that, apart from the instrumental and social distance considerations, territorial representation also influenced voter’s preference at Village.