Noken system

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The noken system, or ikat system, refers to voting practices used in parts of Indonesia's Western New Guinea (Papua) that deviate from standard national electoral practices. The name refers to noken bags, which are widely used in the region and hold cultural value. In areas that use the noken system, voting is carried out by communities, either through public agreement on vote allocation or through the delegation of votes to a tribal leader. There is no law establishing noken voting, but its use has been approved by the Constitutional Court of Indonesia as an expression of customary practices.

It is unclear when noken voting was first used, but it was established as a formal practice following the approval of the Constitutional Court in 2009. There is no standard process for noken voting. Each polling station establishes a voting process in cooperation with local tribal chiefs and political parties. Broadly, there are two forms of noken voting: a 'big man' form where a tribal chief votes for all members of their community, and a 'hanging noken' system where votes are counted using noken bags that represent different candidates. In all cases, votes are effectively public, and this contrasts with the standard Indonesian electoral practice where individuals mark their candidate choice on a ballot paper.

The use of the noken system is considered to empower voters in the regencies using the system, as they may otherwise be unable to vote due to reasons of literacy, or due to the geographic remoteness of polling stations. The stated cultural justification is that the voting system reflects a tradition of selecting leaders through community consensus or acclamation. However, the system is criticised for its lack of a secret ballot, and for reducing individual choice due to the large influence of tribal chiefs. Noken voting is used in national elections alongside other areas using standard voting, creating strange quirks such as 100% turnout and 100% support for candidates. Areas using the noken system elect fewer women than other areas, and disputes over the results from the system have resulted in court cases and violence.