New acting leaders have been appointed in several regions of the country over the past few days, following the resignations of temporary regional heads looking to run in the November simultaneous regional elections.

On Monday, Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian inaugurated Maj. Gen. (ret) Hassanudin as the new acting governor of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).

A retired Indonesian Military (TNI) general and current special staffer at the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister, Hassanudin served as acting North Sumatra governor until his latest appointment on Monday. Replacing him in North Sumatra is Agus Fatoni, director general of regional finance administration at the Home Ministry.

Before Monday, Agus was the acting governor of South Sumatra. He was replaced by Elen Setiadi, an undersecretary at the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister known for his role in the passage of the controversial Job Creation Law.

The string of inaugurations on Monday came after the resignation of former acting West Nusa Tenggara governor Lalu Gita Ariadi, who is looking to compete in the province in the upcoming regional elections.

In his opening remarks at the Monday ceremony, Tito said the central government would not stop acting regional heads from exercising their political right to participate in the regional elections. However, they would need to resign from their posts at least 40 days before the candidate registration opened on Aug. 27.

“We’ve asked for them to notify [the ministry] as soon as possible. This is so that the elections will be fair, and also to give our friends who will take part in the polls a wider space in which to maneuver, including building political relations,” Tito said, as quoted in a statement issued by the Home Ministry.

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