The Impact of the Suspension of Local Election on Citizens

Abstract

          This research aimed to explore the impact of the National Council for Peace and Order Number 1/2014, which suspended the election of local members and local administrators who completed their terms or were removed from their offices in accordance with the law on elections of local government organizations.
          The data for this research were obtained from interviews with a sample of 200 people from a municipality where the clerk acted as the mayor and another 200 people from a municipality where the elected mayor still performed his duties during the absence of an election. The data were analyzed using percentage and Chi-square values.
          The results showed that the absence of an election affected a higher proportion of the citizens in the municipal area where the clerk acted as mayor than in areas where the elected mayor was still acting as mayor. This difference was statistically significant at a level of 0.001. This research found that the municipal clerk acting as mayor had far less close contact with the citizens. The clerk acting as mayor performed like a state official who was assigned to rule, not to serve, the people. This resulted in lower levels of accountability and responsiveness of the clerk who was acting as mayor as compared with the elected mayor.