Bantuan Sosial Sebagai Sarana Kekuatan Politik: Mengurai Batas Tipis Dengan Politik Uang Di Pemilu Padang 2024

Abstract

This study examines how social assistance (bansos) transforms from a state welfare instrument into a source of political power in the 2024 Padang Election. Normatively, social assistance is designed to protect poor and vulnerable groups; however, in practice, it frequently intersects with electoral interests, creating a grey area between legally sanctioned social policy and covert forms of vote-buying. This research employs a literature study method by reviewing Padang City budget documents (APBD), regulatory frameworks related to social assistance and elections, institutional reports, academic publications, and media coverage of aid distribution prior to the election. The findings reveal a significant increase in the social assistance budget in 2023 the pre-election year followed by a steep decline in 2024, reflecting a pattern of pre-electoral resource mobilization. The concentration of aid distribution in November-December further indicates a strategic alignment between welfare allocation and electoral momentum. This pattern operates through interactions among government actors, political volunteers, and beneficiaries, producing reciprocal perceptions that resemble vote-buying mechanisms despite the absence of explicit transactions. Thus, the study argues that social assistance can function as an effective political instrument and as a form of concealed vote-buying that is difficult to capture legally yet powerful from a sociological perspective. These findings underline the urgency of strengthening regulations and oversight of social assistance during electoral periods and ensuring a clear separation between the state's welfare function and political actors’ electoral interests.