Linkage Between Political Parties and Constituents in Malang Raya, Indonesia

In the last two decades, prestige of political parties in developed countries plummeted. This phenomenon was characterized by decline in constituent support for political parties, which led to establishment independent political movements. This also occurred in Indonesia. Objective of this study was to obtain capture and explain the typology of linkage between political parties and constituents in Malang Raya in the 2009 and 2014 Legislative and Regional Head elections based on Thomas Poguntke and Kenneth M Roberts’s typology. It employed a qualitative approach and involved four largest political parties in Malang Raya as the objects. The analysis method adopted Creswell’s. The findings showed that Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), Democratic Party (PD) and Functional Groups Party (Partai Golkar) had clientelist linkages type, while National Awakening Party (PKB) had encapsulating linkages type. The four dominant parties had programmatic linkages type. PKB and PDI-P had both personalistic linkages and charismatic bonds type, while PD was the only political party with marketing linkages type. Keywords: democracy; linkage; political party; constituent; support; general elections DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/12-1-02 Publication date: January 31st 202