Democracy development in Indonesia has been ongoing for 20 years. However, the prevailing democracy is very liberal, and causes the distortion of participation in local democracy. This research focuses on the practice of local democracy at the district level, as an arena of study. The approach and theory of deliberation of democracy as a concept is used to describe and analyse the practice of local democracy. This study uses ualitative methods, collecting data through direct observation, documents and in-depth interviews with political actors in the process of development deliberations. The findings of this study indicate that the political participation of the community in the decision-making process is less than the maximum. This is because the decision-making process at the district level is not supported by a mechanism of dialogue or in-depth discussion of development plans at the sub-district level.