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View all search resultsLocal leaders face hurdle of delayed polls
Political parties divided over when to hold next regional elections
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T
he current election law was only enacted three years ago — but the Indonesian political elites are already debating the possibility of revising it again.
While the proposed revisions concern an array of electoral issues — ranging from a plan to bar members of outlawed organizations from running in elections to the threshold for nominating presidential candidates — the debate clearly centers on the question of whether the nation should hold regional elections in 2022 or push them until 2024, as mandated by the current law.
The matter is more than just a technicality, with analysts saying that the date of the next regional elections could be game-changing for the 2024 presidential race.
Popular regional leaders and potential presidential candidates, such as Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, will end their terms in 2022, 2023 and 2023, respectively.
Pushing the regional polls until 2024 would mean they would lose the political stage that could give them the upper hand in the next presidential race.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who is barred from seeking a third term, has recently joined the debate and may have swayed the positions of some political factions within the House of Representatives, putting the proposed revisions at risk of being shelved.
