The Nov. 27 regional elections will be the first time Indonesians vote for their governors, mayors and regents simultaneously across 37 provinces (minus Yogyakarta) and more than 500 regencies and cities.

With eight months until voters return to the polls, the KPU held an elaborate event on Sunday at Prambanan temple in Sleman, Yogyakarta, where chief commissioner Hasyim Asy’ari told representatives from the body’s provincial branches to closely follow the rules and uphold ethical standards in their prep work.

Poll organizers are expected to kick off a recruitment drive to appoint paid volunteers as members of district- and subdistrict-level polling committees and as administrators (KPPS) staffing individual polling stations, pursuant to the prevailing KPU regulation on the 2024 regional elections.

“[The recruitment drive] is a sign that [work for the] simultaneous 2024 regional elections has begun, which will start on April 17,” Hasyim said on Sunday.

Aside from recruiting poll workers, the KPU is also slated to start work on the voter roll just a week later, with the final list to be announced by Sept. 23.

Unlike in the presidential and legislative elections, in which only a political party or a coalition of parties have the right to field candidates, independent candidates can also run for office in the regional elections. They can start registering their bids as early as May 5, provided that they manage to collect the required number of signatures from voters from their respective province, city or regency.