Surabaya – Dozens of residents in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya held a declaration in front of the Surabaya Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) building on Tuesday September 17 supporting the empty ballot box in the 2024 Surabaya mayoral election (Pilwalkot),
They protested that there was only one ticket participating in the Surabaya mayoral elections, namely the incumbent pair of Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi and Deputy Mayor Armuji.
Action coordinator Harijono said that through the declaration, they want to invite the public to vote for the empty ballot box as a form of protest against the political party leaders.
He believes that the party leaders in Surabaya have failed to accommodate the aspirations of the ordinary people because they prioritise power over the social welfare of the Surabaya people.
"We chose the empty box as a form of rejection against the sole electoral ticket put forward by the political parties that are not sensitive to the ordinary people's aspirations", said Harijono.
Harijono said that through the protest action, they want to convey a message to the political parties and the elite that the people of Surabaya want real change.
"By voting for the empty box, we hope it will be a turning point for democracy in Surabaya, a message that true power lies in the hands of the ordinary people, not in the hands of a handful of political elites and oligarchs of power who are consolidating themselves only for their own interests", he said.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of the Advance Surabaya Volunteer Alliance, Rudy Gaul, added that they are concerned about the performance of the Cahyadi-Armuji leadership over the past five years. One of their concerns is related to the issue of "Green Letter Land" (Tanah Surat Ijo).
"Green Letter Land" refers to land assets belonging to the Surabaya municipal government which have been controlled and used by the community for generations but without official land titles leading to conflicts with the authorities.
"We have agreed that we must ensure victory for the empty box no matter what happens and there must be no puppet representatives", said Gaul.
In order to safeguard the empty boxes, he said that they have prepared around 5,200 volunteers as witnesses and campaigners to socialise the issue among the communities.
They are aiming for the empty box to win 50 percent plus 1 to 70 percent against the sole candidate pair of Cahyadi-Armuji.
"What's important is that the empty box wins and the mayor will then be appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the currently elected mayor cannot be re-elected. Surabaya residents do not want Eri Cahyadi and Armuji", he said.
Cahyadi and Armuji, two leading members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), are backed by all the parties or the 18 political parties in Surabaya. They will be running against an empty box in the November 27 election of regional heads (Pilkada). (frd/wis)
Notes
In the event of a single-candidate election, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has to provide an empty box or a dummy candidate on the ballot paper to give voters an alternative to the sole candidate ticket. In the event that the empty box wins, an acting regional head is appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs until another election can be held. The simultaneous regional elections on November 27 will be held across 548 regions covering 37 provinces, 415 regencies and 93 cities.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was " Warga Deklarasi Pilih Kotak Kosong di Pilwalkot Surabaya".]
