Indonesia pushes for local election reform and stronger party governance

The Indonesian Institute (TII) argues that Indonesia’s local‑election (pilkada) reform should centre on improving political party governance—better oversight, transparent funding, and the elimination of money‑politics—rather than changing the method of selecting regional heads. In a public discussion, TII research associate Arfianto Purbolaksono stressed that weak political‑party recruitment, high campaign costs and patronage are the root causes of recurring corruption at the governor, regent and mayor levels, and that merely switching to a parliamentary election model would not solve the problem.

TII’s analysis also cites a national survey showing that nearly 90 % of Indonesians still prefer direct elections for governors, with similar majorities favouring direct votes for regents and mayors. The institute calls for merit‑based, gender‑balanced, transparent candidate selection within parties to curb the “emergency of political‑corruption” and to restore public trust in local democracy.