Independent Candidate in Regional Elections: Do Citizens Support Them?

"Independent candidates" are regional head election (Pilkada) participants who are not nominated by political parties but are supported by a number of people who meet the requirements to be voters.

According to a Kompas Research and Development (Litbang) survey, the majority, or 50.9%, of respondents had never been asked for support by an independent candidate in their region.

Meanwhile, 30.1% had been asked and were willing to give their support.

"One-third of this respondent group admitted to being willing to attach a copy of their Identity Card (KTP) as a form of support for the independent candidate," said the Kompas Litbang team in their report on Monday (9/9/2024).

Furthermore, 13.2% of respondents had been asked for support by an independent candidate, but they were unwilling to support them.

Then, 3.7% had never been asked for support but their names had been used without their consent, and 1.3% had been asked and then their names were used without their consent.

According to Kompas Litbang, the public's refusal to support independent candidates is partly related to concerns about the misuse of personal data.

Moreover, there was a recent case of the unauthorized use of names and Citizen Identity Numbers (NIK) included in the list of supporters for the independent gubernatorial candidates Dharma Pongrekun-Kun Wardana in the Jakarta Pilkada.

"The finding of fictitious support for independent candidates, which has become a major public concern in Jakarta, illustrates how the process of garnering support is not without the potential for violations," said the Kompas Litbang team.

This Kompas Litbang survey involved 536 respondents from 38 provinces, randomly selected according to the population proportion in each province.

Data collection was conducted from August 19-21, 2024, through telephone interviews. The survey's margin of error is approximately 4.23%, with a 95% confidence level, under conditions of simple random sampling.