Challenges and Changes in Political Behavior of City Community in the Local Election during Covid-19: Acehnese of Indonesia

Abstract

Election is one of the characteristic that must exist in a democratic country, thus election is an important means for the people in the life of the state, namely by choosing their representatives who in turn will control the wheels of government. The results of the general election, which was held in an atmosphere of openness with freedom of opinion and freedom of association, were considered to reflect fairly accurately reflect the aspirations and participation of the community.According to Harris G. Warren, elections are an opportunity for citizen state to elect government officials and decide what they want the government to do. In making the decision it's the citizen countries determine what they really want to have. Meanwhile, according to A. Sudiharto, elections are an important means of democracy and are a real manifestation of people's participation in state life. (Budiarjo 2008) Pilkada was held in Indonesia in 2005 at which time the people were free to choose the regional head they wanted and who would hold office for the next five years. Pilkada was also held after the success of a democratic event, namely in 2004 the people had succeeded in electing the president and vice president who were first elected by the people, so departing from the success of this direct election which made the regional elections also held directly in Indonesia. But basically the rules regarding the elections have been regulated in Law no. 32 of 2004 which regulates regional elections in Indonesia. And vice versa, the lower the level of freedom, the worse the election will be. This gives rise to the assumption that the more people who take part in the election, the higher the level of democracy in holding elections. However, under certain circumstances, there are several obstacles that can hinder the implementation of the post-conflict local election, such as the current Covid-19 pandemic.All parties agreed to postpone elections and reallocate unused election budgets to local governments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Government Regulations in Lieu of Laws have been issued as a legal basis until parliament can incorporate them into law at the next session. The current content of the law is based on the results of a meeting held on 14 April 2020 where parliament agreed with the government's proposal to postpone elections until 2024, but this will be