10.47313 Electoral Competition and Candidate Selection: Revealed the Informal Connections in the 2024 Indonesian Legislative Election

Electoral Competition and Candidate Selection: Revealed the Informal Connections in the 2024 Indonesian Legislative Election

Abstract

Despite the importance of politicians and their selection processes, empirical studies have paid
little attention to what drives party selectors to choose some political candidates over others.
Electorates vote secretly during the election. However, political parties only provide them with a
list from which they can choose. Therefore, the study explores the dynamics of candidate selection
in Indonesia's 2024 legislative election, focusing on the informal connections between political
party elites and candidates, specifically examining clientelism. While electoral competition is often
viewed through formal processes, informal patron-client relationships can significantly influence
who is selected for candidacy.
The research investigates how party selectors balance criteria such as partisanship, popularity,
competence, and immutability (inherent socio-demographic traits like ethnicity and family
background). Through in-depth interviews with party selectors and candidates, the preliminary
results reveal that selectors often prioritize short-term electoral gains over long-term policy
effectiveness. Popularity, frequently driven by a candidate’s connection to party elites, tends to be
favored over competence.
The study emphasizes how previous activism background of candidates, play a significant role in
shaping enhancing partisanship. The study also introduces immutability as a distinct criterion in
candidate selection, showing how socio-demographic traits, often tied to clientelism, shape the
decision-making process. Selectors compromise between the formal and informal criteria,
highlighting how informal networks, such as family or ethnic ties, play a critical role in the
nomination process. These findings contribute to the understanding of the candidate selection
process in transitional democracies, where informal dynamics like clientelism are deeply
embedded.
The research underscores the need for further exploration into how these informal mechanisms
affect governance and electoral integrity in Indonesia. Future studies could benefit from using
ethnographic methods to delve deeper into the role of clientelism and its impact on political
processes in similar contexts.