Political Power Shift in the House of Representative of North Sumatra Province, Indonesia: A Political Communication of Post-election

Abstract

The results of the 2013 regional head election (Pilkada) in the context of the executive and 2014 legislative elections at the level of North Sumatra Province produced new leadership accompanied by a coalition posture of supporting parties. In the context of the legislative institution, it also resulted in changes in votes or seats. Normatively, in the context of executive-legislative relations, it will be more effective if a coalition of executive-supporting parties gets a majority in the legislature since it will facilitate political communication that is involved in the discussion of a regional regulation draft. This study attempts to depict the political power shift in the regional house of representatives of North Sumatra province (RHRNSP), Indonesia. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach with a content analysis technique. The data were obtained through the documentation method. The results showed that there were obstacles from several factions outside the coalition party, specifically in discussing the regional regulation draft. However, these obstacles were still in the form of criticism and input from several factions against the draft regional regulation to be ratified. This is known through the ongoing political communication.