ELECTORAL INTEGRITY AND PATRONAGE POLITICS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE 2025 PESAWARAN REGIONAL ELECTION RE-VOTE

Abstract

The re-voting process (Pemungutan Suara Ulang/PSU) in regional elections is often understood as a consequence of administrative violations or electoral disputes. Such an approach, however, tends to be normative and does not fully explain the political dynamics underlying the process. This study examines the 2025 Pesawaran regional election re-vote as a manifestation of an electoral integrity crisis rooted in local patronage structures and elite power relations. Using a qualitative case study approach, the research draws on official documents and voter-participation data to examine the interaction between vote buying, bureaucratic mobilization, and institutional intervention. Drawing on Pippa Norris’s concept of electoral integrity and the clientelism literature of Edward Aspinall and Mada Sukmajati, the study finds that the Pesawaran re-vote emerged from the accumulation of alleged abuse of state resources and the use of patron–client networks in electoral competition. The intervention of the Constitutional Court functioned as a corrective mechanism, while also revealing weaknesses in the capacity of local political institutions to safeguard electoral integrity. The re-vote has implications for democratic legitimacy, social polarization, and public trust in electoral institutions. Theoretically, the study demonstrates that re-voting in Indonesian local democracy cannot be understood solely as a matter of legality, but also as a manifestation of patronage and local oligarchic structures that penetrate electoral institutions.