Legitimacy of Narrow Victory in Banjarbaru Regional Elections PSU
The implementation of the Banjarbaru City Regional Elections Re-vote (PSU) continues to be in the spotlight, one of which is from an academic from Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM), Prof. Bachruddin Ali Akhmad. Professor of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) who is also a former Commissioner of the South Kalimantan KPU assessed that although the victory of candidate pair number 1, Erna Lisa Halaby-Wartono over the empty column can be accepted procedurally, the issue of legitimacy remains an important note.
Quoting the April 21, 2025 edition of BPost, in his statement, Bachruddin explained that the narrow victory of 50.77 percent according to the quick count results was indeed legitimate according to the principles of liberal democracy.
“In a democracy, no matter how small the difference in votes is, it is still legitimate. However, we cannot ignore that the background of the Banjarbaru Regional Elections which was full of drama and intrigue has eroded the trust of some elites and critical communities,” he said.
He added that the quick count results released by the Lisa-Wartono team were considered quite rational, considering the tight supervision during the PSU.
“The organizers are under heavy pressure because this PSU was carried out based on a legal decision,” he said.
However, Bachruddin did not rule out the possibility of a new lawsuit against the PSU results. However, he estimated that the chances of the lawsuit being granted were very small, unless serious violations of the Election Law were found.
“A lawsuit could happen, because almost no election is completely clean. But for cases like money politics, it is usually difficult to prove because there are minimal witnesses and concrete evidence,” he explained.
Regarding Lisa-Wartono’s narrow victory which in various quick count versions did not exceed 52 percent, Bachruddin reminded that a victory in terms of numbers is not necessarily in line with political legitimacy.
“Even a big victory does not necessarily erase doubts about legitimacy, especially in the context of the PSU which from the start has made some of the public lose trust in the process,” he explained.
On the other hand, responding to the statement of Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Bima Arya who hopes that PSU will not happen again due to budget waste, Bachruddin is of the opinion that democracy should not be measured solely in terms of efficiency.
“Democracy is not a project. High costs are part of the investment of a civilized nation. Good political awareness must indeed be financed, no matter how much,” he concluded.
