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Analysis: Prabowo wants elections on the cheap
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People check candidates before casting their ballots during the local executive elections to elect governors, mayors and regents in Darul Imarah, on the outskirts of Banda Aceh on November 27, 2024. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyudin)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has again openly criticized the electoral process in Indonesia as being too costly and is now proposing, for a start, that the country do away with direct elections for heads of regional governments. This is from a man who won the democratic presidential election in February after three attempts.
In a Dec. 12 speech at the 60th anniversary of the Golkar Party, which is the biggest party in his coalition government, Prabowo urged all political parties to rethink the electoral process by recognizing that the current system has many shortcomings. In particular, he noted the trillions of rupiah spent on organizing the elections and on candidates’ campaigns for office.
He compared the electoral systems in neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia and India which he said are more efficient.
The gathering was attended by the chairs of all the big political parties, with the exception of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), whose matron Megawati Soekarnoputri turned down the invitation. Her daughter Puan Maharani attended the meeting in her capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Pushing for a consensus and noting Puan’s presence in the room, he asked the gathering: “Can’t we decide this right here, right now?”
While many heads nodded in agreement, that is now how it works reforming the electoral laws. That decision will be in the hands of the eight political parties in the House and they will likely take their time and calculate the gains and losses in changing the regulations.
Prabowo’s Gerindra Party is only the third largest in the House with 86 of the 580 seats. The other six parties in his coalition may make up for the number, but they don’t necessarily see eye to eye when it comes to reforming the electoral laws. And there is the PDI-P, which has the largest number of seats and is not part of the coalition.
