The simultaneous regional elections scheduled for Dec. 9 have been touted as the biggest such event in Indonesia since 2015.

This year, 270 regions across the archipelago will stage races. Some 100 million registered voters, which make up roughly 40 percent of the country’s population of 260 million people, will elect nine governors, 37 mayors and 224 regents.

Unlike previous elections, and for the first time in the nation’s history, the COVID-19 pandemic will cast a long shadow over the political contests.

Epidemiologists and election observers have pinned hopes on the General Elections Commission (KPU) to prevent any stage of the contest from becoming new sources of viral transmission.

Read also: 2020 regional elections: Which battlegrounds are being tightly contested this year?

Where do we stand with the preparation?

With less than two weeks until voting day, all 743 candidates are knee-deep in their election campaigns. The official campaign period runs from Sept. 26 until Dec. 5. However, the KPU has advised everyone to shift their campaign activities online and to refrain from holding in-person rallies in light of the coronavirus outbreak. To enforce this, the commission issued a KPU regulation back in September.

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