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House creates yet another province in Papua
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Election officials carry ballot boxes to a helicopter at Wamena Airport in Jayawijaya, Papua, for transporting to Yalimo regency during preparations for the 2019 elections. (Antara/Yusran Uccang)
T
he House of Representatives unanimously passed on Thursday a law to create another new province in the underdeveloped region of Papua, expecting that this will allow the government to redraw electoral districts in all four new provinces ahead of the 2024 general election.
The new law splits West Papua province into two new administrations, via the creation of Southwest Papua province, after policymakers in late July carved three new provinces – South Papua, Central Papua and Papua Highlands – out of neighboring Papua province.
This inevitably sets forth a redrawing of electoral districts and reallocation of legislative seats for all the new provinces, a requirement that election watchdogs called a complex and taxing consequence for the organizing of upcoming polls in the country’s easternmost region.
The government has been drafting a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) to revise the prevailing General Elections Law, which currently only regulates the number of electoral districts and legislative seats in 34 provinces, excluding the four newest provinces.
However, as the election-preparation stages are already underway, the much-needed legal instrument is nowhere to be seen. The government had said that it preferred to wait for the creation of Southwest Papua as it wanted to include it in the Perppu.
Read also: Policymakers consider Perppu to redraw Papua's electoral districts
“As there is so little time remaining to prepare for the elections, the government must accelerate the drafting of the Perppu and the appointment of Southwest Papua officials," House Commission II chairman Ahmad Doli Kurnia from the Golkar Party said after the House plenary session on Thursday.
