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Vote for the ‘lesser evil’ in 2024, minister urges
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Security guards walk in front of flags of political parties participating in the 2024 general election at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta on July 24, 2023. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
With the 2024 general election nearing, a senior minister has urged voters to cast their ballots for “the lesser evil” if they are discouraged by the current crop of presumptive presidential candidates.
Next year’s contest is likely to be a three-horse race among Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan.
But people who are dissatisfied with these options should vote anyway, Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD asserted on Tuesday.
“If you think none of our prospective leaders are good [or that] all of them are bad, do not abstain; choose the lesser evil,” Mahfud said during a discussion live-streamed on YouTube.
“Elections are not just about finding a good leader,” he said, but “about preventing the greater evil from becoming a leader”.
His comments come amid an impasse in coalition building ahead of the opening of candidate registration for 2024.
The country is set to hold the world’s biggest single-day election on Feb. 14 of next year, with an estimated 206 million voters expected to head to polling stations to elect the country’s next president and vice president, as well as legislators and councilors at both the national and regional levels.
