What Indonesia ’s Local Elections Mean for National Politics

Posters of rival tickets for mayor of Depok, a commuter city 40 minutes by train south of Jakarta where many of its 2.4 million residents work.Credit: Warief D. BasorieBy Warief Djajanto BasorieJAKARTA, Dec 8 2020 (IPS) In just over a day, on 9 December, Indonesia holds 270 simultaneous local elections for executive office. This involves nine of the republic’s 34 governors, 224 of 416 bupati (district chiefs) and 37 of 98 mayors. The polling was initially scheduled for 23 September but the independent KPU (General Elections Commission) put the date back to 9 December due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this batch of local polling, 105 million Indonesians aged 17 and above in this nation of 268 million people are eligible to vote. Like the national election for president, local office elections are rigorously contested since the end of the 32-year authoritarian rule of President Soeharto in 1998. During his prolonged regime, Soeharto appointed the country’s governors, mayors and district chiefs to maintain unopposed power through office loyalty. Many active military officers got such appointments in line with the-then dwifungsi (dual function) concept of the armed forces. Uniformed personnel concurrently had a military and a social-political role. In post-Soeharto Indonesia, with the passing of a democratic election bill, the president no longer makes such arbitrary appointments. Moreover, the dual-function practice has ceased. Now, the run for legislative and executive pu...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Asia-Pacific Crime & Justice Democracy Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies TerraViva United Nations Women in Politics Source Type: news