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Consensus reached on campaign period after months-long stalemate
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An officer with the General Elections Commission (KPU) introduces five different ballots at the KPU building in Central Jakarta in 2018. Each voter brought up to five ballots to vote for the president, vice president, lawmakers and councilors at the provincial, city and regency level to the voting booth in the 2019 elections. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan)
A
fter months-long stalemate, election organizers, the government and lawmakers have finally reached an agreement to hold a 75-day campaign season for the 2024 general election, approving a much-awaited regulation that sets forth the entire election timetable.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) and policymakers agreed in February to hold the next presidential and legislative elections on Feb. 14, 2024, ending months of contentious push-and-pull over the election schedule. But disagreement over the proper length of the campaign period and election budget still persisted. This led to additional rounds of deliberation and delayed the issuance of a KPU regulation (PKPU) that provides the legal basis for the election stages, which begin next week.
Over the past few weeks, the recently elected KPU commissioners carried out a frenzy of lobbying, including to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani, to narrow differences and avoid a prolonged debate during final deliberations. They also paid visits to the Supreme Court, chiefs of Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police.
And on Tuesday, the KPU, the Home Ministry, House Commission II overseeing home affairs, Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) reassembled in a final six-hour deliberation to agree on the KPU regulation regarding election stages and schedule.
“Lawmakers with the home minister have approved the draft of the PKPU,” Commission II head Ahmad Doli Kurnia of Golkar Party concluded the meeting.
The new KPU regulation, set to be enacted later this week, is to formalize the oral agreement on voting date that was reached some four months ago. And if it progresses to a second round, the runoff will be held in June. Presidential and vice-presidential tickets can register their candidacy next year from Oct. 19 to Nov. 25.
It will also regulate that the campaign season lasts for 75 days -- much shorter than that of the previous 2019 general election at 203 days.
