This study attempts to answer the question why voters in rural Java consistently support and vote for particular parties, particularly the non-government parties, in general elections under the hegemonic party system in Indonesia. By synthesizing the two principal modes of analysis of voting in Western democracy, the sociological and psychological, the study attempts to examine voting behavior from the aliran (stream or current) perspective. Within this perspective society in rural Java can be observed by looking at the socio-religious cleavages, i.e., the santri (devout Muslim) and abangan (non-devout Muslim or Javanist).
Four variables were examined that are believed to affect the dependent variable (voting), i.e., socio-religious beliefs, party identification, the pattern of leadership, and social class. The data were collected from the villages in Brobanti sub-district, Yogyakarta. 570 respondents were interviewed about their socio-religious beliefs, party loyalties, relations with leaders, class affiliation, and pattern of voting in general elections. The data seem to support the hypothesis that people in rural Java are inclined to vote according to their socio-religious commitments. The santris were inclined to identify themselves with the Islamic party and voted for that party, and the abangans tended to identify with the non-Islamic parties and voted for either Golkar or the PDI. The Brobanti data also supported the hypothesis that in villages in which the popularity of the non-formal leaders was unchallenged and those leaders supported the non-government party, the non-government party would prevail. By applying discriminant analysis the study has determined the contribution of each variable. Among the four independent variables, socio-religious belief is the strongest discriminator, followed by party identification and leadership. Class is the least significant discriminator in explaining voting behavior in rural Java.