<![CDATA[This study aims to analyze the implementation of institutional neutrality by the North Sumatra Regional Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PWNU) during the 2024 North Sumatra gubernatorial election, distinguish institutional neutrality from the individual political preferences of NU members, and identify the educational role of NU autonomous bodies in strengthening political literacy among Nahdliyin communities. The study employed a qualitative approach informed by a political sociology perspective. Data were collected through document analysis and in-depth interviews with informants representing PWNU, Muslimat NU, Fatayat NU, GP Ansor, and members of the Nahdliyin community. The findings indicate that PWNU North Sumatra sought to maintain institutional neutrality by reaffirming the principles of the 1926 NU Khittah, prohibiting the use of organizational symbols, attributes, facilities, and authority for campaign purposes, and requiring structural officials involved in campaign teams to temporarily suspend their organizational positions. These findings demonstrate that NU’s neutrality operates at the institutional level, while individual members retain the right to exercise their personal political preferences, provided that such choices are not made on behalf of the organization. At the same time, NU autonomous bodies perform an educational role through religious gatherings, voter education, anti-hoax initiatives, participatory election monitoring, civic-oriented cadre development, and value-based political outreach grounded in Aswaja an-Nahdliyah. However, the effectiveness of these educational activities is constrained by pressures from local political elites, tensions between NU’s cultural and structural dimensions, vote-buying practices, voters’ economic pragmatism, and disparities in democratic quality between urban and remote areas. This study contributes to the literature on local Islamic political sociology by demonstrating that religious mass organizations can simultaneously function as guardians of institutional neutrality and agents of political education within society. Nevertheless, the findings are limited to the experiences of the informants included in this study and therefore cannot be generalized to all NU organizational structures and Nahdliyin communities across North Sumatra.]]>
