Voting for a candidate is important in an election, but political participation is more than that. Political participation refers to citizens' activities aimed at influencing political decisions. People participate in politics as citizens, not as politicians or government employees. Political participation is voluntary and not mobilized by the State or ruling parties.



Political participation is one of the essential aspects of democracy. The assumption underlying participation is that individuals know what is best for themselves. Because political decisions made and implemented by the government affect citizens' lives, people have the right to participate in determining political decisions.


Citizens' political activities are divided into two categories, influencing public policy and participating in decision-making and policy implementation. In general, the typology of political participation as activities is distinguished as follows. First, active participation is orientated to input and output processes. It means every citizen is actively proposing suggestions regarding public policy, submitting alternative public policies different from government policies, providing criticism and improvement to straighten out general policies, voting for government leaders, and so forth.


Second, passive participation is only oriented to output, in the sense of only complying with government regulations, receiving and carrying out every government decision. Third, the white group (abstention) or the apathetic group considering that the existing political system has deviated from the ideals.


Citizens' political participation activities have a significant impact on the political system and the survival of a country, especially in achieving its goals. Good political participation is participation that grows from awareness as pure participation, without coercion.


In a totalitarian state, political participation is polarized according to the policy of the ruling elite (government elite, party elite). Such participation tends to be mobilized for ideological purposes such as Marxism or communism.


Achieving pure participation demonstrates that the communication ties between infrastructure elites (ruling elites) and harmonious ties. To realize pure participation, society must be complete and receive enough communication and information about government policy steps related to the interests of the community.


Political consciousness of citizens becoming a determinant factor in people's political participation, meaning that various things related to knowledge and awareness of rights and obligations related to the social environment and political activities are a measure and degree of someone's involvement in the political participation process.


Original Source: https://dimensipers.com/2023/01/06/pentingkah-partisipasi-politik/