The Indonesian Electoral System Development: Does Papua Need Local Parties?

Abstract

. Indonesia has three special region and one capital city, namely Aceh, Yogyakarta, Papua, and Jakarta. Each special region has its unique and privileges. The enactment of Law Number 21 the year of 2001 has proven that the state acknowledged the existence of Papua as special region. This regulation gives Papua privileged in special autonomy to manage its region including in the process and mechanism of General Election, as Indonesia Constitution 1945 stipulated the freedom of speech, gather, and protect the rights of every citizen to fight for their rights communally to develop the society and state. The problem is, there was a case in 2019 where a Local Political Party in Papua was rejected to join the General Election due to the lack of Local Regulation specifically regulating the formation of Local Parties in Papua. Meanwhile, in the 2019 General Election, Aceh (as another Special Region) has one Local Political Party that participated the election. It seems that there is an inequal position amongst special region. This paper aims to analyze the legal reasoning and urgency of the local parties’ formation in Papua because it has the privileges to do so. The research method of this paper uses statute and conceptual approach.