Political Alienation of Citizens' Sovereignty in The Election of Village Heads

The Village Head Election (Pilkades) is a local democratic mechanism that guarantees the political sovereignty of villagers. This is in line with the principles of the constitution of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia that "sovereignty is in the hands of the people and is exercised according to the Constitution". However, in practice, the Regional Elections often take place in asymmetrical power relations, thus producing politics of alienation and weakening the sovereignty of citizens substantively. This article analyzes how political alienation works in the Pilkades and its implications for the quality of village democracy. This research uses a critical qualitative approach with a case study design, based on in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis. The analytical framework integrates the concepts of political alienation, power relations, and elite hegemony to read the Pilkades as a non-neutral arena of contestation. The findings show that the practice of money politics, the dominance of local elites and the limited bargaining space for villagers have created a distortion of citizens' participation in the election of village heads into meaningless procedural participation. The contribution of this article is as a source of literature on local democracy which has an affirmation that the quality of village democracy is not only measured by procedural participation but how power relations become an instrument in realizing the sovereignty of villagers.