Perceptions of Legislative Candidates Regarding Political Gifts as a Strategy for Winning Votes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17977/um065.v5.i10.2025.5Keywords:
Perception, Prospective legislative candidate, Political upetiAbstract
The practice of political gifts is often considered an integral part of democracy, especially in the legislative election process. Previous studies have generally focused on the perspective of the public, particularly voters, regarding political gifts, but few have explored the views of prospective legislative candidates in using political gifts as a winning strategy. Therefore, this study aims to understand the perceptions of prospective legislative candidates regarding the use of political gifts as a strategy to win votes. This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach. The research participants are prospective legislative candidates who will participate in the 2024 Legislative Elections. Data collection techniques were carried out through in-depth interviews, observations, and document reviews. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Data validity was ensured through source and technique triangulation, as well as member checking. The results of the study show that (1) political gifts are a form of giving by individuals to political parties or the community and are not an official initiative of the party; (2) political gifts are optional and not mandatory, but are used as part of a strategy to win votes; and (3) there are alternative strategies that prospective legislative candidates can apply to gain support without using political gifts. This study is expected to serve as a reference for prospective legislative candidates in contesting elections wisely and for prospective voters to be more informed and active in participating in legislative elections.
References
Abrajano, M. (2005). Who evaluates a presidential candidate by using non-policy campaign messages?. Political Research Quarterly (formerly WPQ), 58, 55 - 67. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290505800105. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290505800105
Armstrong, M. (2008). Strategic management: Concepts and cases. Pearson Education.
Barker, C., & Pistrang, N. (2021). Research methods in clinical psychology: An introduction for students and practitioners. Wiley-Blackwell.
Bawaslu. (2023). Laporan pengawasan Pemilu 2020. Retrieved from https://www.bawaslu.go.id
Bungin, B. (2023). Qualitative research: Methodology, theory, and practice. Jakarta: Kencana.
Canare, T., Mendoza, R., & Lopez, M. (2018). An empirical analysis of vote buying among the poor. South East Asia Research, 26, 58 - 84. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X17753420. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X17753420
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Creswell, J. W. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2023). The Sage handbook of qualitative research (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Faqi, A. F., Hasrul, M., Amaliyah, A., Iskandar, I., & Munandar, M. A. (2023). Persepsi mahasiswa sebagai pemilih pemula terhadap normalisasi politik uang dalam pemilihan umum. Integritas: Jurnal Antikorupsi, 9(1), 17–30. Retrieved from https://jurnal.kpk.go.id/index.php/integritas/article/view/981 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32697/integritas.v9i1.981
Fitriani, A., Ramadhani, F., Putri, S., & Maharani, S. (2023). Analisis politik uang dalam pemilihan umum: Perspektif hukum Islam dan NKRI. Aksiologi: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Ilmu Sosial, 109–115. Retrieved from https://aksiologi.pubmedia.id/index.php/aksiologi/article/view/168 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47134/aksiologi.v4i2.168
Flick, U. (2020). An introduction to qualitative research (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hamson, Z. (2021). Politik uang di Pemilu Indonesia: Sebuah tinjauan [Money politics in Indonesian election: An overview]. Journal of Communication Sciences, 4(1), 36–44. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zulkarnain-Hamson/publication/359526268_Politik_Uang_di_Pemilu_Indonesia_Sebuah_Tinjauan/links/62d8263e11afc23ee4cfb8fd/Politik-Uang-di-Pemilu-Indonesia-Sebuah-Tinjauan.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.55638/jcos.v4i1.667
Hilman, Y. A. (2018). Upeti dalam perspektif teori hegemoni. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.
Javarone, M. (2013). Network strategies in election campaigns. Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-5468/2014/8/P08013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-5468/2014/8/P08013
Kumorotomo, W. (2016). Budaya upeti, suap, dan birokrasi publik. Culture of tribute. Retrieved from http://kumoro.staff.ugm.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/budaya-upeti-suap-dan-birokrasi-publik.pdf
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Muhtadi, B. (2018). Riset tunjukkan sepertiga pemilih Indonesia terima suap saat pemilu. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Burhanuddin-Muhtadi/publication/341670521_Riset_tunjukkan_sepertiga_pemilih_Indonesia/links/5ece220d299bf1c67d2042d4/Riset-tunjukkan-sepertiga-pemilih-Indonesia.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.64628/AAN.dqttadjvt
Nasution, I. (2017). Korupsi kolusi dan nepotisme: Mitos dan realitas dalam sistem pemerintahan Orde Baru. Jakarta: Rajawali Pers.
Purwadi, S. (2007). Upeti dalam politik diplomasi kerajaan Nusantara. Jakarta: Gramedia.
Ramadhani, A. A. (2025). Pengaruh politik uang terhadap kualitas demokrasi di Indonesia. Lentera Ilmu, 2(1), 76–85. https://doi.org/10.59971/li.v1i1.79 DOI: https://doi.org/10.59971/li.v1i1.79
Rusnani, R., & Hermanto, B. (2015). Strategi caleg dalam upaya memenangkan pemilu legislatif di dapil II Kabupaten Sumenep. PERFORMANCE: Jurnal Bisnis & Akuntansi, 5(2), 18–34. Retrieved from https://ejournal.wiraraja.ac.id/index.php/FEB/article/view/187 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24929/feb.v5i2.187
Schroeder, R. (2020). Political power and the globalizing spread of populist politics. Journal of Political Power, 13(1), 22-40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2020.1720101
Selian, M. S. (2020). Persepsi masyarakat terhadap politik uang pada Pemilu tahun 2019 (Doctoral dissertation, UIN Ar-Raniry). Retrieved from https://repository.ar-raniry.ac.id/id/eprint/14207/
Silverman, D. (2016). Qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sjafrina, A. G. P. (2019). Dampak politik uang terhadap mahalnya biaya pemenangan pemilu dan korupsi politik. Integritas: Jurnal Antikorupsi, 5(1), 43–53. Retrieved from https://jurnal.kpk.go.id/index.php/integritas/article/view/389
Suhardiman, D., & Mollinga, P. P. (2017). Institutionalized corruption in Indonesian irrigation: An analysis of the upeti system. Development Policy Review, 35, O140–O159. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12276 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12276
Sutherland, H. (1979). The making of bureaucratic elite: A study of the colonial administration in Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ufen, A. (2017). Political finance and corruption in Southeast Asia: Causes and challenges. In The changing face of corruption in the Asia Pacific (pp. 23–33). Elsevier. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081011096000022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101109-6.00002-2
Umar, M. H. (2014). Hukum menjual hak suara pada pemilukada dalam perspektif fiqh siyâsi. Al-’Adalah, 11(2), 249–264. Retrieved from https://www.ojp.e-journal.lp2m.uinjambi.ac.id/index.php/al-risalah/article/view/448
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Yunita Dwi Pristiani
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
