Regional Elections Produce Leadership With Strong Legitimacy: Minister Says

Regions must be led by regional leaders elected by the people so that the leadership can have a strong legitimacy, the Government said.

Therefore, the Government has announced it has allocated a budget of more than Rp14 trillion to hold regional head elections in 270 regions slated to be held on 9 December this year.

According to Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, the budget is sourced from the 2019 regional budget (APBD) of respective regions.

“The next stage of regional head elections already resumed on 15 June by re-activating the Regional General Elections Commission (KPUD),” the Minister said on Wednesday (17/6).

Tito also said that the General Elections Commission (KPU) has made a decision to postpone the stages of regional head elections at the end of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with five stages out of 15 stages already running.

“Following the postponement, both Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance have agreed to issue a regulation to secure the remaining budget of Rp9.1 trillion. The regulation also stated that the budget may not be used for the COVID-19 handling,” he said, adding that this ‘fiesta of democracy’ must proceed.

Furthermore, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance have issued a letter to disburse the budget as the KPU has established a new regulation regarding the continued stage as of last Friday.

The Minister also pointed out that the regional General Elections Commission in respective regions has requested for an extra budget for the purpose of additional polling stations (TPS) from 276 thousand to 304 thousand polling stations.

“The extra budget will also be used for the purchase of personal protective equipment, face masks, hand sanitizers, and soaps for polling station working committee,” he said, adding that he will also coordinate with the regions, the KPU, the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), the House of Representatives Commission II overseeing elections affairs, Ministry of Finance.

“We hope that legitimate and established regional governments will help improve the COVID-19 handling,” the Minister said. (MAY/TGH/EN)

Translator: Muhardi
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas