President Reaffirms Elections To Be Held in 2024

KOMPAS

President Joko Widodo chaired a limited meeting to discuss preparations for the 2024 General Election at the Bogor Presidential Palace, Sunday (10/4/2022).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reaffirmed that the general elections will still be held in 2024, even as students plan to demonstrate against the proposal to postpone the general elections and simultaneous regional head elections as well as the plan to extend the presidential term on Monday (4/11/2022).

All the technical and the budgetary requirements for the elections should be settled immediately.

"All stages and time table for the general elections and the simultaneous regional elections have been determined. There should be no speculation [or] rumors that the government is trying to postpone the elections, or speculation on extending the presidential term to three terms. Obviously, we have agreed to hold general elections on 14 February and the regional elections in November 2024," the President said at Bogor Palace on Sunday (10/4), while addressing a limited Cabinet meeting to discuss preparations for the 2024 general elections and regional elections.

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In attendance at the meeting included four coordinating ministers, Home Minister Tito Karnavian, National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, and Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Andika Perkasa.

The President warned that, as the general elections and regional head elections had never been held in the same year, they should be organized carefully. The members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) for the 2022-2027 period who would be inaugurated on Tuesday (12/4) should work together in preparing the elections, he said.

He also pointed out that the budget allocations for the general election and regional head elections should be determined soon.

The President also warned that the necessary legal umbrella for holding the general elections and regional head elections should be established immediately. He also pointed out that the budget allocations for the general election and regional head elections should be determined soon.

Scheduling conflict

Hasyim Asy'ari, a former member of the 2017-2022 KPU and who was also elected as a member of the 2022-2027 KPU, said there was an invitation from House of Representatives Commission II to discuss the draft KPU regulation concerning the program, schedule, and stages of the 2024 General Election. However, there was a problem holding the meeting because it had been scheduled at 1 p.m. on Tuesday (12/4), while the inauguration of the new KPU members for 2022-2027 would be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, he said.

KOMPAS/PRADIPTA PANDU

General Election Commission (KPU) building in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

The terms of the 2017-2022 KPU members, who were inaugurated five years ago, end at 10 a.m. on Monday (11/4).

It was therefore necessary to reschedule the meeting on discussing the technical regulations. The meeting could be rescheduled for Wednesday (13/4), or at least before the DPR went into recess on

Friday (15/4). Hasyim expressed the hope that the meeting would be held before the DPR came out of recess in mid-May 2022.

In addition, if the regulations’ deliberation could be finished quickly, the KPU would have a lot of time to prepare before the preelection period began on 14 June.

According to him, issuing the technical regulations was important to convince the public that the 2024 elections would be held as scheduled. In addition, if the regulations’ deliberation could be finished quickly, the KPU would have a lot of time to prepare before the preelection period began on 14 June, he said.

Researcher Ihsan Maulana from the Constitution and Democracy Research Institute (KoDe) Initiative said that apart from the election schedule and stages, at least two other things could end speculation on the issue of postponing the elections, namely setting the electoral budget and completing all technical regulations that relate to the elections.

The government and the DPR had been delaying discussing the budget and technical regulations for the elections because they were waiting for the new KPU and Bawaslu members to be inaugurated. So after they were sworn on Tuesday, there would be no reason to delay the discussions further. (INA/PDS/BOW)

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).