THE PROBLEM OF POLITICAL PARTIES AS PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Political parties are an inseparable part of a democratic country. They act as pillars of democracy, particularly in terms of political representation, political accountability, the distribution of authority, oversight and control of government administration, honesty and transparency to the public, and the existence of objection mechanisms accessible to the people. Despite the crucial role of political parties, a survey by Indikator Politik Indonesia showed that political parties had the lowest level of trust among institutions in Indonesia in 2022. This situation warrants further examination of the problems faced by political parties that lead to low public trust and the impact on democracy. This study is a normative juridical research with a conceptual and legislative approach. The analysis relies on primary and secondary legal materials, processed using qualitative descriptive methods. The results of this study are twofold: first, political parties still face issues such as noise in political communication, obstacles to political socialization, poor recruitment, and political consolidation that destroys the opposition system. Second, these problems lead to a decline in the quality of democracy in terms of conveying aspirations, fostering political maturity among the public, and the quality of candidates for representatives and leaders.