The term “Green Election” might still sound unfamiliar to some people. It refers to elections that are more environmentally conscious throughout their implementation process.
Recently, a group of students from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) researched this topic. Lutviana Herawati, a student from the Department of Politics and Government at the UGM Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (Fisipol UGM), initiated the social research on environmental politics or the concept of green elections as an environmentally conscious election process.
In addition to Herawati, three other researchers from Fisipol UGM include Farida Ratnawati, Difta Mardi, Krisnanda Kogoya, and Dian Arsyka, a student from the Department of Environmental Geography, UGM Faculty of Geography.
Herawati explained that the green election research involved various parties, including government institutions, practitioners, and non-governmental organizations, with urban communities as the primary subjects.
“This green election research was conducted to observe how this discourse influences the voting behavior of urban communities,” Herawati said in an interview at the UGM Campus on Friday (June 21).
Regarding the recent 2024 elections, Herawati mentioned that political events were one of the backgrounds for their research, particularly the extensive use of conventional campaign tools like billboards and posters of candidates placed haphazardly.
The UGM student research team found that these billboards and posters significantly reduced the aesthetic appeal of cities. The unregulated placement also harmed the public and generated waste that was detrimental to the environment.
“We feel that the previous election campaign process was not sufficiently good as it still endangered the public and polluted the environment,” Herawati explained.
Therefore, the UGM student research team proposed the green election as a new topic in Indonesia’s political process. They have been conducting research on this subject since April 2024.
For Herawati and her team, this research represents a novel topic. So far, research related to the green election discourse is rare, and in their view, it hasn’t been explored in Indonesia.
Difta Mardi, a team member, added that their research focuses on how discourse influences the voting behavior of urban communities. They have conducted this research in two cities: Yogyakarta and Jakarta. These cities represent urban communities for data collection.
“This includes data collection through surveys and in-depth interviews with relevant parties,” Mardi explained.
The research found some interesting points regarding the green election discourse within government institutions. For instance, during an interview with Sri Surani, a Yogyakarta General Elections Commission member, they found that the Yogyakarta Election Commission had implemented environmentally friendly practices through digitalization.
Mardi hopes this research will continue and plans to submit it to the Student Creativity Program (PKM) in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research category organized by the Ministry of Education.
“Hopefully, this research will increase public knowledge about environmental issues that can correlate with various aspects, including politics,” Mardi concluded.
Author: Agung Nugroho