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Party leaders float proposal to extend Jokowi’s term, citing pandemic, Ukraine crisis
Golkar, PKB and PAN want ruling coalition parties to discuss proposal to extend President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's term.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is seen riding on a custom motorbike when inspecting the new international circuit in Mandalika, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara on Jan. 13. (Antara/Ahmad Subaidi)
T
he political decision by the government and the General Elections Commission (KPU) to seal the date for the upcoming presidential election has failed to quash speculations that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is seeking to extend his term beyond 2024.
The speculation resurfaced last week after three leaders of the ruling coalition parties publicly suggested that the next elections be postponed, citing the prolonged pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war that is expected to have a global ripple effect.
'Big' public support
National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar was the first political bigwig to make the call, saying that the elections should be delayed by one or two years so that they would not “disrupt economic recovery” amid the pandemic.
“The transition of power and government usually results in economic uncertainty that could disrupt the atmosphere and momentum for very good economic recovery, especially after the [Group of 20 meeting],” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Muhaimin, who has expressed his intention to run for president but has failed to gain significant support based on surveys by credible pollsters, claimed that his proposal was backed by “big data analysis” of social media conversations, in which 60 percent of Indonesians supported the idea of postponing the election.
