Abstract:
Election of Regional Heads (Pilkada) is an important thing to do as a real form of running
democracy and also as an active form of society to build the nation in accordance with the
expectations of all Indonesian citizens. In the implementation of the Pilkada in 2020, there are
differences that occur with the implementation of the previous Pilkada, namely the constraints
of the Covid-19 pandemic situation that occurred. This makes a lot of adjustments as well as
even contradictions. Because the challenges that will be faced in holding direct, general, free,
secret, honest and fair elections are also not easy. Likewise with the Pilkada which will be held
in Martapura, Banjar Regency. Where voters are certainly given the freedom to make choices
to lead their regions even though the election system during this pandemic is carried out.
As is well known, the pair of candidates for regent and deputy regent of Banjar Regency
number 3, H. Rusli and K.H.M. Fadhlan Asy'ari can be said to be quite massive in his
campaign, but does not reach really remote areas where many people in the suburbs do not
know who the candidates for regent and deputy regent of Banjar Regency are. So you could
say that their campaign, although massive, has not really been effective.
The pair of candidates for Regent and Deputy Regent number 3 in Banjar Regency, namely H.
Rusli and KH. Fadhlan Asy'ari for their campaign strategy is arguably less than optimal. This
is evident from the results of interviews with the community and interviews with prospective
pairs. It can be seen that one of their strategies is to campaign for 50 people in every face-toface meeting and according to their explanation, the community looks enthusiastic even though
the situation does not support the Covid-19 protocol. This pair has a hidden strategy where the
strategy is not published. If it is related to the theory, then the Empathy Theory and the
Homophile Theory are the right theories when viewed from the tendency of the candidate pair
H. Rusli and KH. M. Fadhlan Asy'ari is because they take advantage of common problems with
the community and they are able to adapt to the situation and conditions that exist in Banjar
Regency and this is reflected in the vision and mission of this candidate pair as well as in its
slogan, namely "BANJAR MANUNTUNG".
Keywords: Election of Regional Heads, Banjar Regency, Political Communication,
Covid-19, Strategy.
