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Hundreds of regional leaders to be appointed by govt as House endorses 2024 polls
Millions of voters in 272 provinces, regencies and cities will not be able to elect regional leaders in 2022 and 2023 after the House of Representatives rejected proposed legal changes.
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A worker arranges ballots for the Makassar regional election at the Celebes Convention Center in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Nov. 24, 2020. (Antara/Arnas Padda)
M
illions of voters in 272 provinces, regencies and cities will not be able to elect their respective regional leaders in 2022 and 2023 after the House of Representatives rejected a proposal to change the Regional Elections Law.
The law stipulates that all regional elections nationwide are to be simultaneously with national elections in 2024.
As a consequence, the government will elect hundreds of acting leaders to fill seats left empty by regional leaders whose terms expire before 2024, raising concerns over abuse of power and conflicts of interests.
The House officially dropped on Tuesday a proposal to revise the law by ordering some regional elections to be held in 2022 and 2023 – rather than in 2024 -- and further agreed to remove the revision bill from this year’s legislative priority list.
The decision comes after the government said last month that it did not want to amend the law and that it should only be thoroughly evaluated after the 2024 polls.
All nine House factions agreed with the decision, but the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) preferred to have the elections held in 2022 and 2023, arguing that holding them simultaneously in 2024 would place a high burden on poll workers.
A total of 101 regional leader seats will become vacant in 2022, including gubernatorial seats in Jakarta, Banten and Aceh; while 154 mayoral and regental seats and 17 gubernatorial positions will be left empty in 2023, including in the country’s most populous provinces: West Java, East Java and Central Java.
