Thursday, 21 April 2022 – More than half of Indonesians agree that they do not support a third presidential term. Most people believe that a president should only be allowed to be elected no more than twice. This is concluded from Kawula17’s research conducted in September 2021 and March 2022.
In the first survey in September among students and fresh graduates, the result shows that students generally do not support a third presidential term (66%). This position is especially apparent among male students (75%). But also, most female students (55%) disagree with a potential third term.
One of the reasons for not supporting this presidential term extension is that this will delay the effort of leader regeneration and potentially trigger the rise of authoritarianism. “The limitation of presidential terms exists for reasons. One of the reasons is to prevent the potential of the authoritarian regime in the government.” Said a male worker from Jakarta.
In the latest survey (March 2022), most people still do not support the proposal for the third presidential term (50%). This second from Kawula17, has a representative sample among Indonesians aged 18 to 44 from Java, Sumatra, and other regions.
Especially Indonesians in the 25-35 age group are against the extension of the presidential term (64%). The opposition is also very apparent in Sumatera (71%).
Only 25% of Indonesians support in a critical situation, like the Covid-19 pandemic, that a president can be elected more than twice to ensure national stability.
Those who support the three periods of presidential terms support it because they want the president to be able to focus on realizing and completing all the programs that his current administration is currently working on. “There is no guarantee that the next president will continue those programs.”
People in the age group between 36 and 45 often tend to be neutral when talking about potential third presidential terms, especially those in Java. The position of this age group is almost equally divided into those who support, neutral, and do not support the potential third term.
According to Generasi Melek Politik, a non-profit organization focusing on youth political education, “We should beware of the third presidential term proposal. Firstly, this third-term proposal violates the UUD 1945 chapter 7, limiting the presidential term. Secondly, as a democratic country, the rotation of leaders has to be maintained to minimize the rise of an authoritarian regime”.
The pilot survey is conducted from 30 September – 29 October 2021 among 291 students and fresh graduates. Meanwhile, the Q1 survey is conducted from 16 March – 29 March 2022 is among 531 Indonesian citizens in the 18-44 age group. Both surveys were conducted using the CASI (online survey) with a multi-stage quota sampling technique. The margin of error for the most recent survey is 4,3%, with a 95% confidence level.
The report of the survey findings can be read here.
Source: Maria Angelica Christy Aka, Researcher at BOI Research and Kawula17.