Campaign Strategies of Political Parties in the 2014 Presidential Election in Indonesia

Abstract

During the lead-up to the 2014 presidential election in Indonesia, the internet was utilized as a campaign strategy, thereby creating an important conduit in the democratization process. This research investigates to what extent the internet has overtaken conventional mass media in the strategy of political campaigns among political parties in Indonesia. In-depth interviews with 11 prominent politicians and advisors, followed by observation in the offices of five top political parties were conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia. Additionally, focus group discussion with 30 people from 3 different categories of society were used to provide descriptive quantitative data supporting this qualitative study. The findings show television still has the highest percentage of usage for campaigns, followed by newspaper and radio. Nevertheless, internet communication as the newest campaign strategy had been used by all political parties. Although usage figures recorded low percentage, in some cases, e-political campaigns proved significant in the result for those parties. This study enriches evidence that conventional mass media seem to be working to increase awareness of the presidential candidates, but this phenomenon does not always equate with increasing electability. However, two parties which paid more attention to new media campaigns rather than conventional ones have increased their electability significantly. All participants, both prominent politicians and society, agreed the usage of new media for campaigns will continue to increase significantly to promote the ideas of democracy among political parties and citizens.