Party System Fragmentation in Indonesia: The Subnational Dimension

Abstract

In this article I analyze the extent and causes of party system fragmentation in Indonesia's provincial and district parliaments. Focusing on the results of the first three post-Suharto elections in 1999, 2004, and 2009, I first highlight that local-level fragmentation is not only generally higher than national-level fragmentation but also that it has consistently increased over the three elections and that fragmentation has been particularly high in Eastern Indonesia. I then explain these three trends as a result of three main factors: First, electoral institutions applied between 1999 and 2009 facilitated fragmentation and poor party system institutionalization, mainly due to the introduction of an open list system in 2009 and the absence of a parliamentary threshold at the local level. Second, low levels of party institutionalization progressively individualized local party politics and made it normal for candidates to switch to smaller parties if it suited their interests, thereby exacerbating fragmentation. Third, electoral campaigning for local parliaments has been dominated by traditional methods based on personal relationships and networks rather than lavish public relations campaigns with expensive TV ads, further reinforcing the effects of the first two factors.

Partai Politik dan Perilaku Pemilih Di Indonesia (Studi Pada Pemilu Legislatif 2009, 2014, dan 2019)

“…Pemilu Indonesia pasca reformasi ditandai dengan dua ciri utama, pertama, pergerakan partisipasi pemilih yang dinamis baik ditingkat pusat maupun local (Aspinall & Mietzner, 2014;Buehler, 2007;Fossati, 2019a;Tomsa, 2019)). Sejarah pemilu legislatif 2014 dan 2019 mencatat peningkatan partisipasi dari 71.31% menjadi 81,69%, peningkatan ini berbanding terbalik dengan penurunan partisipasi pemilih yang konsisten terjadi ratarata 10% pada pemilu legislatif 1999-2009 .…”

“…Pemilu 2009 telah mendorong tranformasi pemilih Indonesia dari perilaku psikologis menuju perilaku psikologis-rasional yang diikuti dengan pola kemenangan simetris antara pasangan SBY-Boediono dan Partai Demokrat (Aspinall, 2014b;Aspinall & Mietzner, 2014;Tomsa, 2019 (Klimek, Diakonova, Eguíluz, Miguel, & Thurner, 2016).…”

The Resurgence of Ideology in Indonesia: Political Islam, Aliran and Political Behaviour

“…This suggests that the association between aliran identity and party choice is asymmetric across party family, being stronger for Islamic than for secularist parties. Perhaps, this asymmetry is related to the increasing electoral competitiveness in Indonesian politics (Tomsa, 2014), which is often attributed to the rise of new parties described as personalistic and non-ideological, such as former President Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, Prabowo Subianto's Gerindra Party, and others. As none of these parties describes itself as an Islamic party, the PDI-P might have been more exposed than Islamic parties to ideological competition from these new actors in Indonesian politics.…”

Conclusion

“…1). Tomsa (2010) claims that most Indonesian parties are now presidentialist in essence and no longer represent sharply defined ideological constituencies. The current models of vote buying were developed in a setting where some parties possess very strong 'base areas'-for example, working class areas in Argentina that have been voting for Peronists for decades, or the long-time rural voter base of the Party of the Institutionalised Revolution (PRI) in Mexico (see Chap.…”