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Dec. 9 election day declared national holiday
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A worker arranges ballots boxes for the 2020 regional elections at a warehouse in Cimanggis, Depok, West Java, on Nov. 25. (JP/P.J. Leo)
The government has declared Dec. 9, the voting day in the upcoming simultaneous regional election, a national holiday.
The decision is stipulated in Presidential Decree No. 22/2020, signed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last Friday.
The national holiday is hoped to provide “the widest possible opportunity for citizens to exercise their voting right”, says the decree.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) said it would coordinate with relevant institutions, including the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), the Indonesian Military, the National Police and the COVID-19 task force, to enforce health protocol during the elections.
“We hope voters will not hesitate to come to polling stations, because we follow health protocols for the management of all voting logistics used at the stations,” said KPU official Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi, as quoted from a statement published on the Cabinet Secretariat website.
The 2020 regional elections include 270 elections conducted on the same day, with more than 100 million voters in 309 regencies and cities to be involved.
Read also: Regional elections during a pandemic: What to expect in next month's polls
