THE Indonesian regional elections (Pilkada 2020) are being held today involving nine provinces, 37 cities and 224 regencies across the republic.
A total of 100.3 million eligible voters are expected to cast their votes in the elections which are being held to elect the governors, mayors and regents.
Due to an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases, the General Election Commission (KPU) has established the COVID-19 protocols at polling stations which opened from 7 am until 1 am today, including wearing face masks, body temperature checks and to bring their own stationery.
Home Minister Tito Karnavian was quoted by local media as saying that the regional elections involved an allocation of IDR15.3 tril (RM4.46 bil).
“We hope this election does not trigger a new COVID-19 cluster, all TPS (polling stations) have been instructed to adhere to the COVID-19 health protocols,” he said.
The gubernatorial elections involve provinces such as West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, Riau Islands. Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, North Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi.
Meanwhile, the focus will also be on President Joko Widodo’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, who are running in mayoral races in Solo and Medan respectively.
The official results of the 2020 general election are expected to be announced on Dec 26.
The 2020 regional elections were initially scheduled for Sept 23, but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many are worried that the 2020 election will trigger a new cluster as Indonesia still records an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases, with a daily average of more than 4,000 new cases reported since November.
As at yesterday, according to data published by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Indonesia recorded 586,842 total positive cases, while 18,000 people in the republic have died from this disease. – Dec 9, 2020
