TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Repeat regional polls one solution for ‘empty box’ wins: House
With just over two months until this year's regional head elections, House Commission II has said holding repeat elections next year is one solution if a sole candidate pair does not win in a region with uncontested polls.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Members of a subdistrict election committee (PPK) take part in a parade on Sept. 5, 2024 in Tegal regency, Central Java, to promote and educate voters on this year’s regional head elections, which is being held simultaneously for the first time in history. (Antara/Oky Lukmansyah)
Lawmakers are prepared to call repeat elections next year if sole candidates fail to garner enough votes to win the 2024 regional head elections in November, amid growing concerns over uncontested polls in dozens of regions.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has reopened candidate registration in regions where just one candidate pair is contesting the 2024 regional head elections to avoid uncontested polls.
But as regional KPUs closed the extended registration period at midnight on Sept. 4, some 41 regions, including the province of West Papua, were still projected to feature a sole candidate pair on their ballot papers.
In response, Ahmad Doli Kurnia, a House of Representatives lawmaker from the Golkar Party, suggested holding repeat elections in 2025 if a sole candidate does not win in a region with an uncontested election.
“I’m sure that [my] colleagues in Commission II will suggest a repeat election one year after a kotak kosong is declared the election winner,” Doli, who is also chair of House Commission II overseeing home affairs, said on Saturday, as quoted by Antara.
The Golkar lawmaker was referring to the “empty box” selection featuring no candidate that appears on ballot papers in regions with a single candidate pair, and which voters can select if they do not want to the sole registered pair on the ballot.
Doli added that repeating the elections in regions with a sole candidate pair was one of just two possible options that were discussed on Monday at a meeting between Commission II and the KPU.
