Ana Fauzia (1), Radian Salman (2)
General Background: Regional elections play a crucial role in democratic governance, ensuring public participation in leadership selection. However, fair electoral competition is often challenged by the undue advantage of incumbent candidates. Specific Background: Indonesia’s Law No. 10 of 2016 permits incumbent regional heads to take a leave of absence during elections rather than resigning, raising concerns about potential abuse of power. Knowledge Gap: While existing studies discuss election regulations, limited research has specifically examined the urgency of mandatory resignation for incumbents seeking re-election. Aims: This study evaluates the fairness of incumbent candidacy requirements and proposes legal reforms to prevent electoral manipulation. Results: The analysis reveals that the leave requirement is insufficient to prevent conflicts of interest, as incumbents retain influence over state resources, policies, and personnel. Comparative legal frameworks from other countries suggest that a resignation mandate can enhance electoral integrity. Novelty: This research uniquely emphasizes the necessity of reconstructing candidacy rules to include mandatory resignation, drawing on constitutional principles of fairness and equality. Implications: The findings advocate for legislative amendments to establish a resignation requirement for incumbents, thereby strengthening democratic processes and ensuring a more equitable electoral system.
Highlights:
Keywords: Regional Head, Elections, Incumbent Candidacy, Reconstruction
Dr. Radian Salman, LL.M (email: radian.salman@fh.unair.ac.id ) is Program Coordinator at Master of Science in Law and Development Postgraduate School and also a Director of Center for Constitutional and Governance Studies Faculty of Law, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia. He teaches courses in Constitutional law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Legislative Drafting, and Good Governance. His expertise and research interests are : Court and the Constitution, Judicial Review and Constitutionl Court, Constitutional Interpretation, Election Law and Good Governance. His last publications are research project on study of UUD NRI 1945 (Indonesian Constitution), Reformulation of People Representative Assembly (with Research Center of People Representative Assembly) book chapter on populism published in Populism and Democracy as co author (Edited by Sascha Hardt and Aalt Willem Heringa, Eleven International Publishing, The Hague, the Netherlands, 2020) and article on Judicial Populism published in the Constitutional Review Journal, 2020. Radian wrote a book chapter on for the International Review of Constitutional Reform 2020, (Program on Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism).
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