The Driving Factor for Stability of Voter Turnout in Southeast Asia: The Evidence from Malaysian and Indonesian Elections

The objective of the study was to describe voter participation (turnout) in South East Asia, particlarry in Indonesian and Malaysian elections from 2004–2019, and the factors that cause stable participation. The participation of voters (turnout) in Malaysia's elections from 2004–2018 is 73.90–84%. The participation of voters in Indonesia's elections from 2004–2019 is 70.99–84.09%. This means that voter participation in the last three election periods was stable in both countries. This study shows that four factors cause stable participation: political awareness, rationality, political perceptions, and electoral orientation that is candidate-oriented. The theoretical implication of this study was to strengthen Timothy Feddersen and Alvaro Sandroni, and John G. Matsusaka's theory about voter political participation or voter behaviour on election day. The originality of this study is that there are special characteristics behind stable political participation in Indonesia and Malaysia. Methods of data collection in this study is based on literature study and analytical method uses the descriptive analysis method. This study also uses a political comparison approach to analyse data.