Discourse on Procedural Democracy: Study of the “Empty Box” Phenomenon in Regional Head Elections

Abstract

The practice of procedural democracy has fostered power elitism. Elitism departs from the argument that democracy is limited as a procedural representation of power to defend or seize political and economic advantages. Elitism gives limited space for the representation of power to citizens. Because citizen participation is widely considered to be a danger to power, elitism has reduced the representation mechanism between citizens and the political elite that controls and determines the common good. The “empty box” phenomenon describes the practice of power elitism as a critical discourse on procedural democracy. This study will demonstrate mapping the development of discourse about the "empty box" phenomenon from various literatures or studies that have been carried out. At least there are two discourses had been carried out about the phenomenon of “empty box” in regional elections, they were pragmatism of power from political elite and the practice of political personalization of the candidates. Both are placed in the section on criticism of the practice of procedural democracy. Elitism as a dominant structure is often legitimized by the rules of the game for general elections that do not reflect the application of the principles of free and fair political competition and participation.