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View all search resultsPrabowo signals support for Golkar’s push to end direct regional elections
Ahead of a planned revision to election rules, President Prabowo Subianto has once again raised the idea of scrapping direct regional head elections to cut costs, despite persistent opposition from pro-democracy activists who have warned of a possible rollback of democratic safeguards.
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A poll administrator counts votes for the Denpasar mayoral election on Nov. 27, 2024, at a polling station in Denpasar, Bali. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has once again raised the idea of scrapping direct regional head elections to cut costs, ahead of a planned revision to election rules at the legislature and despite persistent opposition from pro-democracy activists who have warned of a possible rollback of democratic safeguards.
The Prabowo administration and the government-controlled House of Representatives have been seeking to introduce sweeping changes to election laws, prompting debates over potential changes to electoral systems, including the prevailing direct voting for governors, regents and mayors.
Speaking at the 61st anniversary celebration of the pro-government Golkar Party in Jakarta on Friday, Prabowo said that having regional heads be elected by regional legislatures (DPRD) was an idea worth considering because it might offer a more affordable approach while maintaining democratic principles.
“If we have already elected members of legislatures at the provincial and regental levels, why not have them [legislators] also choose governors and regents?” said Prabowo, who chairs Gerindra Party, the de facto leader of the ruling coalition.
He pointed out that similar systems were already practiced in some countries such as Malaysia, India, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, stressing that “the richest countries in the world use cost-effective political systems”.
Direct elections for governors, regents and mayors have been in place since 2005 as part of the reforms and decentralization process instituted after the 1998 fall of the authoritarian New Order regime under the country’s longtime leader, Soeharto, former father-in-law of Prabowo.
Read also: Political parties divided over court ruling on direct regional elections
