Decline of Local Democracy: Legal Vacancies, Non-Ideological Coalitions, and the Phenomenon of Single Candidates in Regional Elections in Indonesia

Authors

  • Romadhony Putra Pratama Fakultas Hukum, Universitas Dr. Soetomo Surabaya
  • Vieta Imelda Cornelis Fakultas Hukum, Universitas Dr. Soetomo Surabaya
  • Sri Astutik Fakultas Hukum, Universitas Dr. Soetomo Surabaya
  • Nur Handayati Fakultas Hukum, Universitas Dr. Soetomo Surabaya
  • Isnawati Fakultas Hukum Universitas 17 Agustus Samarinda

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.38035/jlph.v6i4.3239

Keywords:

Local Democracy, Acting Regional Heads, Factual Tenure, Political Cartelization, Constitutional Court

Abstract

The consolidation of democracy in post-Reform Indonesia is currently facing an "illiberal turning point" that systematically erodes the essence of people's sovereignty at the local level through manipulative legal engineering. The urgency of this research is based on the institutional paradox due to the synchronization of the 2024 Simultaneous Regional Elections which triggered mass vacancies and the strengthening of elite hegemony. This study aims to analyze the dialectic of power recentralization through the appointment of Acting Regional Heads, the construction of the doctrine of factual tenure based on the Constitutional Court Decision Number 132/PHPU. BUP-XXIII/2025, as well as the challenges of political cartelization to elite circulation and freedom of choice The main findings of this study show the existence of a "triad of democratic regression" which includes: (1) a crisis of sociological legitimacy due to the appointment of 271 acting regional heads that are centralistic and closed; (2) the establishment of the doctrine of factual tenure as an instrument of substantive justice to prevent the manipulation of tenure by incumbents; and (3) the anomaly of political party cartelization that actually consolidates giant coalitions to create a single candidate even though the nomination threshold has been lowered through the Constitutional Court Decision Number 90/PUU-XXIII/2025. These findings contribute to the understanding that current legal norms tend to be used as instruments of political exclusion to maintain the status quo of the elite. The conclusion of the study confirms that local democracy is undergoing a substantial erosion into just an administrative plebiscite. The implication is that it demands a more strict revision of the Election Law and total transparency in the mechanism for appointing officials. The suggestion for further research is to conduct an empirical evaluation of bureaucratic neutrality under the leadership of the acting and the effectiveness of civil society movements in fighting electoral monopolies.

References

Al-Fatih, S., Safaat, M. A., Widiarto, A. E., Uyun, D. A., & Nur, M. (2023). The Hierarchical Model of Delegated Legislation in Indonesia. Lex Scientia Law Review, 7(2), 629–658. https://doi.org/10.15294/lesrev.v7i2.74651

Aspinall, E., & Mietzner, M. (2019). Southeast Asia’s Troubling Democratic Trajectory. Journal of Democracy, 30(3), 62–76.

Asshiddiqie, J. (2005). Hukum Tata Negara dan Pilar-Pilar Demokrasi. Konstitusi Press.

Asshiddiqie, J. (2020). Konstitusi dan konstitusionalisme Indonesia. Sinar Grafika.

Bermeo, N. (2016). On Democratic Backsliding. Journal of Democracy, 27(1), 5–19.

Dewi, V. F., & Daim, N. A. (2023). Dinamika Penolakan Penjabat Kepala Daerah Dari Pusat Di Kalimantan Tengah Dalam Perspektif Politik Hukum. Mimbar Ilmu Hukum, 1(3), 279–301. https://doi.org/10.37504/lh.v1i3.580

Farisa, F. C. (2022). Tidak Transparan, Kecemasan Publik Soal Penunjukan Penjabat Kepala Daerah Bermuatan Politik Dinilai Wajar. Kompas.Com. https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2022/04/18/15364201/tidak-transparan-kecemasan-publik-soal-penunjukan-penjabat-kepala-daerah

Fikri, A. F. (2025). Konsekuensi Pelaksanaan Pilkada Serentak 2024 terhadap Kekosongan Kepemimpinan di 271 Daerah. Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan, Administrasi Publik, Ilmu Komunikasi (JIPIKOM), 7(2), 346–356.

Gusman, D., & Nazmi, D. (2024). Implikasi Hukum Terhadap Masa Jabatan Kepala Daerah Dilantik 2020 Berdasarkan Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Nomor 27/PUU-XXII/2024. Jurnal Legislasi Indonesia, 21(2), 310–325.

Hadjon, P. M. (2001). Pengantar Hukum Administrasi Indonesia. Gadjah Mada University Press.

Hadjon, P. M. (2007). Perlindungan Hukum Bagi Rakyat di Indonesia (Edisi Revi). Peradaban.

Hanan, D. (2025). Indonesian Democracy Beyond 2024: Coalitional Presidentialism, Presidentialization, and Imperial Presidency. Cosmogov: Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan, 11(2), 241–256.

Johansyah, J. (2021). Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi Bersifat Final dan Mengikat (Binding). Solusi, 19(2), 165–182. https://doi.org/10.36546/solusi.v19i2

Katz, R. S., & Mair, P. (2009). The Cartel Party Thesis: A Restatement. Perspectives on Politics, 7(4), 753–766.

Mahardika, A. G. (2024). The Implementation of Referendum as a Limitation to Autocratic Legalism in the Formation of the Nusantara Capital City Law. Al-Ahkam: Jurnal Ilmu Syari’ah Dan Hukum, 9(2), 113–129. https://doi.org/10.22515/alahkam.v9i2.10181

Manan, B. (1997). Beberapa Masalah Hukum Tata Negara Indonesia. Alumni.

Manan, B. (2003). Teori dan Politik Konstitusi. FH UII Press.

Mande, M. (2016). Implementasi Peran Dan Fungsi DPRD Dalam Rangka Mewujudkan ‘Good Governance. Lex Administratum, IV(2), 76. http://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/monografias/GEBIS-RJ/RBG/RBG

Mulianto, B., & Fikri, R. (2018). STRUKTUR LEGITIMASI DALAM MASYARAKAT INDONESIA (Studi Pengukuhan Kembali Kerajaan Gunung Sahilan Kabupaten Kampar Provinsi Riau). WEDANA: Jurnal Kajian Pemerintahan, Politik Dan Birokrasi, 4(1), 410. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.25299/wedana.2018.vol4(1).2156

Noer, H. H. (2024). Portrait of the Politicization of Indonesian Bureaucracy in the 2024 Election. International Journal of Social Service and Research (IJSSR), 4(03), 752–769.

Nur, A. S. (2025). Problematika Penunjukan Penjabat Kepala Daerah. UIN Khas.

Nurjani. (2025). Interpretasi Mahkamah Konstitusi atas Masa Jabatan Kepala Daerah: Diskualifikasi Petahana Bupati Tasikmalaya Ade Sugianto. Galuh Justisi, 13(2), 444–460.

Pepinsky, T. B. (2024). Why Indonesia’s Democracy Is in Danger. Journal of Democracy, (February).

Power, T., & Warburton, E. (2020). Democracy in Indonesia: From Stagnation to Regression. ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.

Prasojo, E., & Salam, R. (2022). Political and Administrative Relations in the Role of Regional Head Officials. Journal of Strategic Triangle Theory, 15(1), 10–25.

Putusan Nomor 132/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 Tentang PHPU Kabupaten Tasikmalaya (2025).

Ramanda, D. E. (2022). Menata Ulang Kewenangan Mengangkat Penjabat Kepala Daerah. JISIP (Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Pendidikan), 6(3), 10061–10068. https://doi.org/10.36912/jisip.v6i3.3353

Ramdani, D. (2022). Problematika Penunjukan Penjabat Kepala Daerah pada Masa Transisi Pilkada Serentak Nasional Tahun 2024. Fakultas Hukum Universitas Islam Indonesia.

Riyanto, A. (2024). Fenomena Pasangan Calon Tunggal pada Pilkada Serentak: Strategi Borong Partai. Jurnal Inovasi Hukum, 6(1), 20–35.

Romli, L. (2018). Implikasi Pemilihan Calon Tunggal terhadap Demokrasi Lokal. Jurnal Politik, 4(1), 1–15.

Simbolon, C. D. (2017). Parpol Mengabaikan Kaderisasi. Media Indonesia.

Slater, D. (2018). Ordering Power. Cambridge University Press.

Surbakti, R. (1992). Memahami Ilmu Politik. Grasindo.

Sutrisno, H., & Akbar, A. N. M. (2024). Implikasi Hukum Penunjukan Penjabat Kepala Daerah dalam Perspektif Undang-Undang Nomor 10 Tahun 2016. Themis: Jurnal Ilmu Hukum, 1(2), 82–86.

Venter, J. (2015). Power Tends to Corrupt, and Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutely. Sabinet, 54(428), 209.

Wicaksono, A. (2021). Implikasi Hukum Penunjukan Penjabat Kepala Daerah dalam Perspektif Otonomi Daerah. Lex Suprema, 8(3), 45–58.

Zuhro, S. (2025). After 25 Years of Decentralization, Political Awareness Has Increased but Local Democracy Remains Far from Ideal. FIA Universitas Indonesia

Downloads

Published

2026-05-11

How to Cite

Pratama, R. P., Cornelis, V. I., Astutik, S., Handayati, N., & Isnawati, I. (2026). Decline of Local Democracy: Legal Vacancies, Non-Ideological Coalitions, and the Phenomenon of Single Candidates in Regional Elections in Indonesia. Journal of Law, Politic and Humanities, 6(4), 2418–2432. https://doi.org/10.38035/jlph.v6i4.3239

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2026): (JLPH) Journal of Law, Politic and Humanities

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Romadhony Putra Pratama, Vieta Imelda Cornelis, Sri Astutik, Nur Handayati, Isnawati

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish their manuscripts in this journal agree to the following conditions:

  1. The copyright on each article belongs to the author(s).
  2. The author acknowledges that the Journal of Law, Poliitic and Humanities (JLPH) has the right to be the first to publish with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
  3. Authors can submit articles separately, arrange for the non-exclusive distribution of manuscripts that have been published in this journal into other versions (e.g., sent to the author's institutional repository, publication into books, etc.), by acknowledging that the manuscript has been published for the first time in the Journal of Law, Poliitic and Humanities (JLPH).