Local Election in Indonesia and Japan : A Comparative Study

Introduction

For every country, election process is one important moment in the governmental and political system. Besides as the implementation of democratization, this process will also prove the public responsibility. The importance of election is that the rule and process of election will determine the further governmental process, since it will select persons in charge in the legislative and executive bodies and determine policies for public.

Indonesia with its decentralization system has been coming into several changes and progress. Transitions from one arrangement to another, in order of local government’s autonomy implementation, have led to this recent condition which totally different with the past of local government. Direct election for the head of local government is a crucial issue, since now local government holds more authority and public gives more attention to the election implementation and transparency. Public demands that their local government must be able to accommodate their needs, and in addition, the progress in the political system, including parties, has pushed election system into more transparent and democratic one.

On the other hand, Japan has carried out local government system since the Constitution and Local Autonomy Law were enacted in 1947. Progress and modification transpire by time, combined with the political characteristic of Japan. It is interesting to see local election in Japan, how the development in the election system can also lead to other aspects in the local government system.

By a comparative study, there are some similarities and differences between local government in Japan and Indonesia. Furthermore, these points will result similar and different policy outcomes as well.

Election for Local Government and People’s Representative in Indonesia : Some Changes

Local government in Indonesia is divided into provinces and regions/cities (municipals). Up until now, there are 349 regents, and 91 autonomous cities in 33 provinces. Governor and regent/mayor are the local executives, and People’s Representative Council exists in the Province and Region/City level are local legislatives.

Election process for national-local legislative and executive in Indonesia is carried out separately with special arrangements for each. For the local legislative members, the election is conducted together with national legislative members’ election, in one national general election. The law concerning this matter is General Elections for the Members of People’s Representative Council, Regional Representative Council and Regional People’s Representative Council Law 12/2003. However, for the head of local government, governor and mayor, recent condition, the election is based on Law 32/2004 concerning Local Government.

Special committee takes in charge in the election process is Committee of Election, which has Election Supervisory Body within. General election law mentioned, this committee works independently, ranges from national level into sub district level and has responsibilities :

1. to supervise every stage of election implementation;
2. to receive reports on violations of election legislation;
3. to settle disputes that arise in the conduct of election;
4. to submit findings and unfinished reports to authorized institution

Head of Local Government

Election in the local government level in Indonesia has been experiencing some development. The path ways of election process for head of local government as mention :

Pre-1999	1999 (based on Law 22/1999)	2004 (based on Law 32/2004)
Appointment mechanism The Regional People’s Representative Council proposed the candidates of governor and regent/mayor to central government, and central government appointed one.	Indirect election. The Regional People’s Representative Council elected governor and mayor and reported the result to central government	Direct election for governor and mayor and their vices (in couple).

Elections for governor and regent or mayor are held once in every 5 years. The candidates form with their vices or in couples, and are required to be proposed by political parties. The chance for independent/individual candidates is open, but still it must be through party’s proposal.

The eligibility age of candidates is at least 30 years old, while re-election is limited into another one period, thus the limitation for total term of position will be two periods.

The latest data on governor and mayor, and their vices total elections for 2006 are (see Appendix 1)[1] :

- Governor and vice election : 7

- Regent and vice election : 66

- Mayor and vice election : 12

For regional level (see Appendix 2)[2], during 2006, in the election for governor/vice and regent/mayor/vice, in general the voter turnout was range from 70% – above 80%, only special cases happened were about 45% (Batam city) and 55% (Pakanbaru city).

Local Assembly Member

Local assembly in Indonesia comprises Regional People’s Representative Council in the province level and region/city level, and has a unicameral system within. All members of these councilc are partisans. The election for these council members is conducted once in every 5 years.

To observe Regional People’s Representative Council voters in Indonesia, it is necessary to see general election, since the election for regional people’s representative in the province and region or city are held together with the national People’s Representative Council.

The latest general election held in April 2004, there were still 32 provinces participated, and 24 for political parties. Based on the Decision of Committee on Election Number 32/2004 :

Total people who fulfilled the requirements to become voter 148,000,639[3]	Applied their right 124,449,038 (83%)	Legal 113,498,755
		Illegal 10,957,925 (8,81%)
	Did not apply 23,551,321

Source : www.kpu.go.id

Since the election for regional local assembly in Indonesia (province and region/city) is conducted together with the election for people’s representative council for national level, then the voter turnout for regional people’s representative council can be seen as the same as the voter turnout in whole. From the explanation before, we can see that the voter turnout for assembly council reached 83%.

System of Election

For the regional people’s representative council, voters can chose the picture of political party and the name of candidates[4]. However, it is still legal if only chose the picture. In the general election 2004, the number of voters who just chose the picture were 54,188,481 and voters who chose both pictures and candidate’s name were more than they who chose pictures only (www.kpu.go.id).

Indonesia applies majority system for governor and regent/mayor electoral system, however for the local legislative member, uses proportional representative mechanism.

Japan Condition

Since May 1947, the Constitution and the Local Autonomy Law were enacted and marked the change in the local government system, from Germany system into American system (Ministry of Home Affairs, 1984), and this change was also including in the election field.

The organization of Japanese local government is similar to the presidential system where the citizens choose the chief executive and members of assembly in direct elections.

Chapter VIII Article 93 of the Constitution of Japan mentioned :

“The local public entities shall establish assemblies as their deliberative organs in accordance with the law. The chief executive officers of all local public entities, the members of their assemblies, and such other local officials as may be determined by law shall be elected by direct popular vote within their respective communities”

This election is carried out in every 4(four) years. The eligibility of candidates to participate in the local election is over 25 years old for mayor and assembly members and 35 years old for governor (Local Government Class Material Week 7). The backgrounds of candidates are varied from civil, servant, Diet member, high ranking official of local government, local assembly or local business man. Re-election is defined unlimited, and chief executive of local government can demand for reconsideration or re-election to Local Assembly (Ministry of Home Affairs, 1984).

Scheme of Local Government Mechanism in Japan

Source : CLAIR 2004

Election Management Commission is one of administrative committees, in the prefecture and municipal level that takes in charge in the electoral process, management of elections and other related affairs. This committee stands independently and fairly, in order avoiding bias. For local assembly, the membership is open both for partisan and non partisan candidates.

System of Election

Voters write down the name of candidate, and then the vote is counted using the simple majority system for governor and mayor election, and on the other hand for local assembly members’ election uses multi-member constituency and single casting system (Local Government Class Material, Week 7).

There is also often a reverse relationship between the level of election and the rate of voter turnout in Japanese elections. Ordinarily, the lower the level government is, the higher the rate of voter turnout. In the council elections for towns and villages, the voter turnout often reaches 90 per cent. In 1991, it was 87.18 per cent, although the average turnout of the elections for the House of Representatives remains at around 70 per cent. In 1994, the Lower House election the turnout rate was only 67.26 per cent (OECD, 1997).

Comparative and Policy Outcomes

Similar points between local government election in Indonesia and Japan are

1. (Simple) Majority system for local executive
2. Direct type of election system
3. Independent institution manages the election

1. Party entry pass for executive candidates

Political party or some parties in together, propose candidates for head of local government. In Indonesia, this requires whether partisans or independent candidates to pass one door mechanism which is party. In Japan, two political parties can cooperate in candidate’s nomination locally, where in the national level these two parties compete.

There is also an effort to bring up discussion about the role of local party and the rule for them in election participation recently. This kind of new development must be anticipated well by government and Commission of Election.

1. (Simple) Majority system for executive

There is critics for majority system in the executive election, that it will invite conflict because of dissatisfaction from light loose. This concern can be answered by fair rule and transparent process of election. So far, the proportional system still capable in legislative election, for this can also accommodate the minority as well, especially in Indonesia with multi party system.

1. Direct type of election system

The shift from indirect election system to direct one, actually becomes the focus and important. To what extent, local government can put its role on the implementation. For Indonesia, besides the autonomy field that later belong wider to local authority, the change of electoral means so much, as another addition point to acknowledge the existence not only local government, but also public, vis a vis local community.

Direct election system results the elected persons to have more public responsibility than appointed one, in addition the voters are the community they serve as well. Although for head of local government, they still must relate to national government, but their achievement to be elected make an important conditions, where the respect or priority will come for voters. In other words, public will be more important.

For Japan case, the change will result in the change of local government position character. Muramatsu (1997:64) explained that :

“Essentially, the postwar constitution and the Local Government Act established the framework for a new, decentralized central-local relationship by providing for the direct popular election of governors. My focus here is on whether, as a result of direct election, the prefectures character as intermediate bodies has change from being agents of the state to serving as intermediaries for both sides, and specifically on what form this change may have taken.”

Another advantage from this system is chief executive or governor-mayor-regent will be likely to local representative. Furthermore, some years ago when Local Government was first introduced, there was an issue of “putra daerah” or “locally (birth) son”. It was said that the first priority for local government leaders must give to the putra daerah, since they are originally come from the region or province. For the vice leader, this provision came lighter, that it was allowed for non putra daerah to hold that position. Since the candidates must be nominated in couple, usually the executive candidate is putra daerah although he or she is not fully qualified but is not native in that area. This combination on occasion results well, but it cannot be made generally.

This spirit could be arisen also because of the demand from local community to have a larger authority rather than central government intervention.

However, this direct election system and principle also can give effect differently, that from this system, people tend to choose popular candidates. For example, in some area, the criteria will arrive to popular candidates, although he or she was not locally born there. Undoubtedly, this has two impacts as on a coin. The advantage is the relationship between candidates and public is examined. They have to know public and also known by public, there the trust will be built among voters. If the voters are smart then the choice will go to a qualified-popular candidate. However, this also has a possibility that unqualified-but popular candidate will be chosen.

Policy outcome can raise is direct election is still the better mechanism compare with appointment, as long as requirements are fulfilled.

1. Independent institution manages the election

The independent Election Committee is important to prevent the neutrality of political aspect during election. In Indonesia, it is stated by law this committee reaching from central body in national level, provincial branch, region/city branch and sub district branch level. This institution is very strategic and important because first, it implements the election rule, secondly, it has an authority to make report of violation, and thirdly the result of election is released legally by this institution. In short, based non those reasons, the neutrality of this committee is important.

Differences points between local government in Indonesia and Japan can be explained as mention :

Table 1

Differences of Local Election in Indonesia and Japan

Differences

	Indonesia	Japan
Local Assembly Election	Together with National Assembly Election in a national general election –coordination is under the National Committee of Election	Conducted locally – under the management of prefecture and municipal Election Administrator Committee
Election Regulation Base	- General Election law for local assembly member election - Local Government law for governor, regent/mayor and their vices election	Unified in the Constitution and Local Autonomy law
Local Assembly Members	Partisan only	Urban : most of are partisan (and the rest are independent members) Rural : Most are non partisan
Local Legislative Electoral System	Proportional	Multi-member constituency　and single casting system
Governor; Regent/ Mayor and Vice Candidates	l Directly elected in couple form (Law 12/2003 Article 24 point 5) l Party entry pass for executive candidates – including for Independent candidate	l Only governor and mayor are directly elected, on the other hand Vice Governor and Deputy Mayor are appointed l Executive candidate can be independent or party nominated
Limitation for Re-elected	Limited until the total of two periods working (one period re-elected) (Law 12/2003 Article 110)	Unlimited (potential for status quo)
Voter Turnout	In general, both urban and rural voter turnout has a light difference. Few voter turnouts only happens cases.	Rural area has more voter turnout than urban area.

Source : Data Elaboration

For Indonesia case, where the election for local assembly is arranged together with national assembly general election, public will be persuaded to be in one election condition. The spirit and conducive situation are created, thus this will make a support and motivation for public in participating, or giving attention to the political situation. For some reasons, this is important. First, that election situation and spirit can be one way of political education for public. Public concern is important to select qualified and popular elected politician. Secondly, that condition is important for voter turnout. Voter turnout is important to fulfill the support for elected persons. Besides the urban and rural division voter comparison elements, in the case of Indonesia, since local assembly of member election is conducted together with the national assembly member, then there is no division of voter turnout between national and local assembly member voters. It will not be different. However, if we want to compare it, then as it is mentioned, the element of comparison will be urban and rural voters division.

The disadvantage of this mechanism is, if the arrangement under national coordination is unhealthy or corrupt, then the impact will touch many elements since it is a national general election.

In observing the local assembly member, that Indonesia accommodates only partisan members, compare with Japan that accommodates independent popular candidates besides partisan, there are outcomes from these system. Considering that local assembly is the counter balance for local government, and then it is important to have independent members within. If the elected members are only allowed for partisans, then the focus to party will be high, instead of people or public interest. To balance it, we can use the independent members as their background will accommodate public interest before the executive.

For Japanese system, where executive vice is appointed, then the system will be 50:50 between direct for chief executive and indirect for the vice. Actually the vice position is important, in the time of sudden chief replacement or especially for politician who has ambition to be chief executive. Vice position can be a way to gain popularity, so by the time he or she joins in the direct election for chief executive, then they already gain support and popularity. In addition, besides from local background, then it is also possible he or she comes from central government base. Since vice position is important, the direct election will be suitable to choose a qualified one.

Conclusion

In observing Indonesia with its progress in the local election system, since the local assembly members’ election is held together with the national assembly members’, the coordination and management which is under National Committee of Election, must be built very health and fair. Otherwise, if the national coordination has been unfair or weak, then the impact will touch many local government – provinces; region/cities.

Japan system, though has been applied a wider local autonomy including in the election system, but still contained by national government aspects, for example there is opportunity for vice executive comes from bureaucrat in central government. This intervention can be resulted from top (central government’s initiative or intervention) or bottom (local government itself or dependency). Nevertheless, the shift is done in several ways. As the result of direct election and improvement in the local government system, governor characteristic shifted from merely national branch side to local government character. The election system itself has been applied well including the open chance for independent candidate participation although party must be involved as the pass except for Japan local assembly.

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Bibliography

Books

Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, 2004, Local Government in Japan in http://www.clair.or.jp/e/forum/other.html

Ministry of Home Affairs, 1984, “Local Administration and Finance” in Tsuji Kiyoaki eds., 1984, Public Administration in Japan, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.

Muramatsu, Michio, 1997, “The Changing Role of Prefecture” in the Local Power in the Japanese State, University of California Press, California

Tsuji Kiyoaki eds., 1984, Public Administration in Japan, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo.

Local Government’s Class Material

Week 7

Report

Head and Vice of Local Government Election from who Finish Their Term in January to December 2006 to February 2007 with The Schedule of Local Election for Head and Vice of Local Government in http://www.depdagri.go.id

Local Government in Asia and The Pacific : A Comparative Study Country Paper : Japan, in http://www.unescap.org/huset/lgstudy/country/japan/japan.html

Managing Across Levels of Government : Country Case Japan in http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/16/1902326.pdf

Law

Chapter VIII Article 93 of the Constitution of Japan

Republic of Indonesia Law 22/1999 concerning Local Government

Republic of Indonesia Law 12/2003 concerning General Election for Members of People’s Representative Council, Regional Representative Council and Regional People’s Representative Council

Republic of Indonesia Law 32/2004 concerning Local Government

Websites

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/16/1902326.pdf

http://www.depdagri.go.id

http://www.clair.or.jp/e/forum/other.html

http://www.unescap.org/huset/lgstudy/country/japan/japan.html

http://www.kpu.go.id

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[1] The total is already included election for working term finished in February 2007, since the election must be held at least one month before it is ended. Schedule for Head of Local Government Election.

[2] Appendix 2 covered local election in 2006 only (not including election for working term finished in January and February 2007). Focus here is the voter participation.

[3] There is a difference between the total number based on Committee Election Decision (148,000,639) and the explanation from the Committee about the total from people who applied and did not apply (148,000,359). Until this paper finished, the writer could not find the suitable explanation for this.

[4] Voters receive the election sheet, which shown the political party pictures and candidate’s name. In the closed room where provided the nail and desk.