The apparent attempts by political parties to use the popularity of celebrities to win votes in the upcoming regional head elections is widely seen as evidence of their failure to find competitive and reliable candidates, an issue which will eventually harm democracy and jeopardize the public’s interests, an analyst has claimed.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) opened on Tuesday the application for local poll administrators (KPPS) for the November regional head elections, prioritizing participants under 55 years of age without underlying health conditions to avoid fatalities and “work accidents”.

The House of Representatives is set to pass on Thursday a series of legislations that will allow president-elect Prabowo Subianto to form a bigger cabinet and appoint more members to a presidential advisory board once he takes office.

The Gerindra Party has signaled that its chairman, president-elect Prabowo Subianto, may install politically aligned professionals in his cabinet in an effort to ensure an effective government when he takes office next month.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's youngest son and Indonesia Solidarity Party (PSI) chairman Kaesang Pangarep went to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building in Jakarta on Tuesday to clarify his use of a private jet during a recent overseas trip.

Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto plans to announce his cabinet on the day of his inauguration as Indonesia’s next president next month, says a senior politician of his party.

Electoral rivalries have carried over into a takeover scandal at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) resulting in the ouster of chairman Arsjad Rasjid, who supported a losing presidential candidate in February’s general election.

The race to become Indonesia’s next foreign policy chief has intensified after Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi announced that she would be taking on a new job outside of government once her term ends next month.

The outgoing foreign minister will again make history when she takes up her new post as the UN chief's special envoy on water on Nov. 1, when she becomes the first Indonesian special envoy and the first individual to hold the new post.

One month before the end of his decade-long presidency, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has warned his ministers not to issue extreme policies and to uphold stability to facilitate the transition of power.

The rerun elections slated for 2025 will follow the same procedure as the November simultaneous regional elections, which started with candidate registration and followed by a campaign period for candidates.

With former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan out of the running for the city’s gubernatorial election, the remaining hopefuls are courting his supporters, who make up a large share of Jakarta’s voters.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) suspects certain powers took advantage of the innocence of the party's grassroots supporters and manipulated them into signing a petition to challenge the party structure, said central board member Ronny Talapessy in charge of legal affairs.

Among the 20 names moving to the next stage of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner selection process are current commissioner Johanis Tanak and deputy Pahala Nainggolan, who were reported for alleged ethics violations.

Petitioners challenging the new lineup of executives of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will now withdraw the motion filed at the Jakarta State Administrative Court, as they claim that they were tricked into signing the petition.  

Jokowi's office has confirmed that the President has returned to Nusantara and is to hold his final cabinet meeting on Friday at the newly built presidential compound in the country's future capital, where he plans to remain until the day before the formal transition of power on Oct. 20.

Zulkifli, who currently serves as trade minister under the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said that Prabowo's cabinet would definitely be bigger than that of the outgoing President.

Communications and Information Minister Budi Arie Setiadi has defended President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who was allegedly behind an online account with slanderous comments against Prabowo Subianto, and the President's younger son Kaesang Pangarep, who took a lavish trip on a private jet with his wife to the United States.

More allies and figures close to Prabowo Subianto are receiving key positions in the current government weeks ahead of the president-elect's inauguration on Oct. 20, a move many see as a consolidation of power.

The Jakarta High Court on Tuesday increased the prison sentence for former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, who was convicted of soliciting bribes from other officials at the Agriculture Ministry, following an appeal by prosecutors.

The selection committee for the new leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has announced the 20 candidates for commissioner who passed the profiling assessment held late last month, with a former minister and an incumbent commissioner among those who did not make it to the next stage of the process.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has criticized a new petition seeking to challenge the party structure at an administrative court as another attempt to undermine the party during the election year.

Gibran said that there was nothing improper about the deal, which centered on the setting up of a gaming center and an office in Surakarta, and that it had gone through a thorough vetting process.

Budi Arie, who is also leader of President Jokowi's volunteer group Projo, said the jet ride had allowed Kaesang's wife, Erina Gudono, who is eight months pregnant, to avoid the travails of international travel.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo named on Wednesday Saifullah Yusuf, the secretary general of the nation’s largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), to replace Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini, known as Risma, who resigned to focus on campaigning for the November regional election.

Celebrities leading a candidate pair's campaign team is a strategy launched by political parties and candidates to garner enough votes to win the upcoming regional elections, slated for Nov. 27.

MPR Speaker Bambang Soesatyo denounced the decree on Monday, stating that the assembly sought to resolve any lingering “psychological and political” damage to those linked to the former president.

President-elect Prabowo Subianto appeared intent to forge warmer ties with Megawati Soekarnoputri as he hopes to have a sit down with the chairwoman of the largest political party at the legislature before he takes office next month.

Three plaintiffs have made a request to the Constitutional Court to amend the Regional Elections Law to allow a kotak kosong (blank box) to be included in every ballot in the upcoming regional elections, as a protest against political parties for only prioritizing popularity when nominating a candidate.

In a series of back-to-back meetings on Monday, members of the House Legislation Body (Baleg) and representatives of the outgoing Jokowi administration rushed to revise the 2008 Ministry Law, which limits the number of ministries to 34.