2018 Simultaneous Regional Head Elections

According to previous studies, political dowry was practiced in the 2018 simultaneous regional head elections as found in several cases although policies on the prohibition of rewards have been adopted. This is regrettable because political dowry has fairly destructive impacts. For instance, the local governments formed after the elections will have the potential to be corrupt. This study aims to analyze potential political dowry practices in the 2018 regional head elections, their factors, and the policy implication. The research method used in this study is a qualitative approach with a descriptive content analysis on some secondary data. This study found that potential political dowry practices had occurred in the 2018 regional head elections as found in several cases but were difficult to prove by regulations. The factors of a political dowry practice are three elements as involved in any transactional activity, i.e. seller (political party), buyer (prospective regional head candidate), and system (electoral system). The policy implication is to integrate Law No. 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, Law No. 10 of 2016 concerning Regional Head and Deputy Regional Head Elections, and Law No. 2 of 2011 concerning Political Parties with reinforcement in several aspects, such as the appointment of an independent institution to be permanently responsible for the financial management of political parties, the system with fair, affordable, and accountable opportunities to attain political leadership positions, the rationalization of political finance, the verification of political parties to support participation in simultaneous regional head elections, the reinforcement of information systems in the financial management of political parties, and the reinforcement of the role and independence of the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) in handling political dowry practices in regional head elections.

Secara eksplisit mahar politik tidak termasuk dalam terminologi peraturan perundangan.  Sampai saat ini belum pernah ada pelanggaran resmi pemilu terkait mahar politik namun mahar politik terjadi hampir di setiap ajang Pemilihan Kepala Daerah. Padahal, praktik mahar politik memiliki impak yang cukup destruktif, semisal pemerintahan terbentuk pasca pemilihan kepala Daerah yang transaksional dan koruptif. Studi ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis praktik mahar politik pada pemilihan kepala Daerah 2018, faktor-faktor yang berperan dalm terjadinya praktik mahar politik pilkada dan upaya penegakkan regulasi terhadap praktik mahar politik. Metode studi yang digunakan adalah pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode deskriptif. Momen Pemilihan Kepala Daerah 2018 telah digunakan sebagai ladang bertumbuhnya praktik mahar politik, secara regulatif pelarangan praktik mahar politik telah difasilitasi oleh Undang-Undang 10 Tahun 2016 dan UU 2 Tahun 2011.  Secara regulatif, Praktik mahar Politik Pilkada tidak dapat dikategorikan sebagai tindak Pidana Korupsi, Belum Pernah ada sanksi yang sukses diterapkan bagi praktik mahar politik Pilkada, UU No. 10 Tahun 2016 menuntut pembuktian Mahar Politik dengan proses peradilan sampai status inkracht, Hal-hal yang menyebabkan mahar politik adalah keterbatasan dana  parpol untuk mebiaya tingginya biaya politik, kurangnya inteegritas organisasi partai politik, kurangnya individu elit politik, dan sentralisme partai politik dalam memberikan persetujuan atas calon yang diusulkan