The Rise of New Candidates in Indonesia’s 2019 Legislative Election: Comparative Cases in Aceh and Yogyakarta

Abstract

In Indonesia's latest national legislative election of 2019, several new legislative candidates could defeat the incumbent candidates in the intraparty competition to achieve seats in the House of Representatives. The application of the Open-List Proportional Representation (OLPR) system since Indonesia's 2009 election enabled new candidates to succeed in the electoral contest. Thus, this paper investigated driving factors inducing the rise of new legislative candidates in Indonesia's 2019 legislative election by applying three indicators of the powercube theory: visible power, hidden power, and invisible power. More specifically, the National Mandate Party (PAN) in Aceh and the National Awakening Party (PKB) in Yogyakarta were selected as a comparative case. Methodologically, it is qualitative research by employing the case study approach. In data-gathering, this study utilized two main techniques: in-depth interview and documentary. The findings revealed that the use of the powercube theory in the Indonesian political stage worked effectively. They could influence the triumph of new legislative candidates with different levels of dose. Therefore, these findings motivate other new legislative candidates not to give up on fighting for and winning the electoral competition despite coping with forceful incumbents.