Role of Political Education in Improving Public Participation in Election: The Case ofWest Sumatera Governor Election

Abstract

This article describes the role of political education to improve public participation in the election of West Sumatra governor. The governor election is expected to be able to raise the level ofoptimism in order to improve the leadership qualities of local government, and the spirit of political education for citizen. This study applied descriptive qualitative method by using interviews and documentations as research instruments. Based on the documentation instrument, it showed the statistics of permanent voters who voted in the 2015 for governor election was 59.58% or 3,489,743 permanent voters. It was implied that 40.42% or 1,410,680 voters did not take their votes. This low level of public participation could be a sign that democracy has not effectively been implemented at the local level. The researchers concluded that the socialization activities of Governor election, as one of responsibilities of General Election Commission, have failed to increase the political awareness of the society.

Impact of Political Education to the Participation of Beginner Voters in General Election

“…Political literacy is defined as the ability of an individual to make political choice and to give opinion, to be aware of his/her rights, and to have knowledge on state governance, regulations, and autonomous aspects in life [1]. Political literacy plays an important role in a democratic process, and is acquired through political education.…”

“…Democratically-elected goverment shall be formed if the voters can exercise their respective individual rights by voting freely and without any duress from any party whomsoever [2], [1]. Election results in Indonesia in 2019 showed that the participation level of the voters reached 81.93%, which was considerably high, in which the number of legitimate votes for legislative election (DPR) amounted to 139.970.810 votes, and for presidential election amounted to 154.257.601 votes [3].…”

“…The urgency of this research is to create quality elections in such a way that it shall give impact on sovereign governance. Earlier researches concluded that reasonable voters may be improved, in terms of their quality and quantity, through political education either in formal education (Civic) or non-formal education [1]. In this matter, the most important political literacy is the understanding on nationality and statehood and knowledge of elections.…”

“…When the intelligence of a leader can not be matched by the intelligence and knowledge of the people it may lead to disorderliness. The lack of political literacy in society may produce dictatorial leaders [1]. Secondly, the Affective Aspect, it serves as the aspect that contribute to the building of character and preference of citizens.…”

“…The three aspects of political education above in the realm of democracy may contribute to the creation of smart and ideal citizens [8], [9], [10] [11]. There are five rational criteria for voters: (1). Individuals can make a decision when facing with a series of alternative choices; (2) Individuals can arrange their own preferences with the choices available in sequence; (3) The arrangement of these preferences is transitive; (4) Individuals choose the closest/main alternative; and (5) If faced with various choices at different times in the same environment, individuals will make similar decision.…”