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KPU says fast-tracked regional elections still feasible
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Medical workers carry a "voter" who has passed out during a simulation of a regional election in Banyuwangi, East Java on Sept. 14, 2020. The simulation was held as part of preparations for the 2020 simultaneous regional elections set to take place in 270 regions across Indonesia. (Antara/Budi Candra Setya)
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has given an assurance that it would still have enough time to prepare for the 2024 regional elections should they be fast-tracked by two months.
The idea of bringing forward the elections by two months first came from the government but has yet to win unanimous support from lawmakers.
The regional elections, set to be held on Nov. 24 of next year, will be the first time Indonesians vote for their regional heads simultaneously across the country’s dozens of provinces and hundreds of regencies and cities.
The government has reportedly been testing the waters with lawmakers for the proposal to hold the elections earlier than scheduled and instead host them on two separate dates on Sept. 7 and Sept. 24.
This has been met with concerns from observers, who fear that it might not give enough time for the KPU to prepare for the regional elections. This is because parties’ eligibility to nominate their own candidates for regional heads will depend on the number of seats they have in the respective regional legislatures, which in turn, are dependent on the results of the legislative elections, set to be held on Feb. 14 along with the presidential election.
Under the 2016 Regional Elections Law, a party or a coalition of parties must control at least 20 percent of seats at their respective provincial or regional councils (DPRD) to field their own pairs of candidates in a regional election.
KPU chairman Hasyim Asy’ari, however, insisted that the KPU would have enough time between the Feb. 14 general elections and the regional elections, even if the latter were to be brought forward by two months.
