INDONESIA: ELECTION CREDIBILITY IN PAPUA REQUIRES ENDING "NOKEN"

[Jakarta, 28 January 2025] The November 2024 regional executive elections in Papua, Highland Papua, and Central Papua were marred by violence and allegations of fraud, with the noken system of proxy voting at the heart of the controversy. The report rejects the Indonesian government’s conclusion that the problem can be solved by ending direct elections and suggests instead that more resources be poured into cleaning up voter rolls, allocating more resources for voter education and poll monitoring, ensuring better election supervision and punishing fraud.

"Indonesia: Election Credibility in Papua Requires Ending ‘Noken’”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), reveals widespread electoral irregularities in Papua’s three most populous provinces. The elections delivered surprising victories for “dark horse” candidates, but the results remain contested. All defeated candidates for governor have filed petitions to the Constitutional Court, seeking to overturn the results and disqualify the winners.

“The use of noken – a vaguely defined proxy voting practice where community leaders vote on behalf of constituents – is the biggest problem because it routinely produces 100 per cent turnouts – or higher – and improbable margins of victory and defeat,” says Deka Anwar, IPAC analyst. Jakarta’s Constitutional Court, and many Papuan politicians, claim that letting an influential local leader vote on behalf of his village, neighborhood, or clan is a traditional practice in Papua, but in fact, it is a pretext for avoiding doing the kind of work necessary to ensure a semblance of democracy there.

Scrutiny of the election results show manipulation by candidates, administrators and supervisors at all levels. If dark horse candidates won, it does not necessarily mean that they were more popular or mounted more effective campaigns. Too often it means more strategic use of noken, combined with money politics.

IPAC argues that Jakarta’s continued acceptance of noken voting, and its indifference toward the fraud it engenders, reflects a pattern of treating Papua as a region where lower standards can be applied and political rights can be flouted with impunity. It urges the Indonesian government to take the first step toward credible elections in Papua by ending noken voting.