R

egional elections across Central Java province are two months away but many regencies and municipalities are allegedly not ready due to problems such as lack of candidates and funding.

Central Java legislative council member Bambang Haryanto warned that the upcoming regional elections in 17 out of 35 regencies and municipalities scheduled this April are likely to be chaotic or postponed.

The councilor from Commission A in charge of political affairs said there were numerous problems faced by each of the regencies.

He pointed out three regencies, Pekalongan, Rembang and Kebumen, which his commission visited to see their preparation ahead of the elections.

In Pekalongan, for instance, only one candidate, the incumbent, has been registered. There has been no recent information on another, he said.

"With only one running candidate, there will be no election. The regulation won't allow it," Bambang told The Jakarta Post in Purwokerto.

In Rembang, the Election Supervisory Committee has not been set up, while the election process continued and voters' registrations were completed.

He also said in Kebumen, no fund was allocated by the regency administration even though the election is two months away.

Such problems, Bambang said, were faced by almost all regencies.

"This situation is really risky and threatens the quality of democracy in the respective regions," he said.

"Unless the problems are solved, elections in the respective regencies must be postponed. Otherwise, it will create new problems."

Bambang also expressed concern that less community figures were interested to run in elections due to financial reasons. A candidate must spend huge amounts of cash for campaigns.

"People can only run if they can afford to," he said.

Political observer Eko Budiharjo, who is also former rector of Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, said it was not surprising to see less people willing to run in regency elections.

Apart from the high cost, he said regents were less powerful now. Many government officials, including regents and mayors, are being sent to prisons for various reasons, further discouraging people from the posts.

"Even a president is criticized this day, much less than a regent," he said. "So it's understandable when people are reluctant."

A regent candidate, he said, would need about Rp 10 billion (US$1 million) to fund his or her candidacy.

Businesspeople, he said, would probably think it was better to spend such an amount on investment than to run for a regent candidacy.

Despite the gloomy outlook, he said direct regional elections must be continued.