Local elections ( Indonesian: ''Pemilihan Kepala Daerah'' or ''Pilkada'') were held in Indonesia on 9 December 2020. Voters elected nine

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

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regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

s, and 37

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

s across the country. All the elections were held on the same day, and over 100 million people were expected to be eligible to vote.

Background

Simultaneous local elections (''Pilkada Serentak'') was first held in Indonesia in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. The leadup to the 2020 elections saw several regulations being issued by the

General Elections Commission The General Elections Commission ( id, Komisi Pemilihan Umum, abbreviated as KPU) is the body that organises elections in Indonesia. Its responsibilities include deciding which parties can contest elections, organising the voting and announcing ...

(KPU) barring certain candidates from running, from adulterers to politicians who had been charged with corruption. The decision that the simultaneous local elections throughout

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

would be held amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

stirred some controversy in the Indonesian public.

Schedule

KPU released a schedule for the election in June 2019. Registration for the candidates would be held between 28 and 30 April 2020, with a campaign period lasting between June and September. The voting itself was initially planned for 23 September 2020. In October 2019, the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

estimated that the election would require an expenditure of Rp 15.3 trillion (around US$1.1 billion), around double the budget for the 2015 local elections. In May 2020, due to the ongoing

, President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elit ...

issued a regulation postponing the election to December 2020, with further postponement being possible if the pandemic had not subsided by then. The new schedule for the elections was released in June, with the new election date set for 9 December 2020 and the campaigning period being set between 26 September and 5 December 2020. This election schedule planned by Election Committee (KPU) and the government was opposed by several activists because by forcing a major event during a pandemic, they were breaching several Laws (''UU Kekarantinaan Kesehatan'' & ''UU Wabah Penyakit Menular'') which raising the risk of disease contagion among the people. There were more than 1500 health protocol violations during the campaigns, and 70.000 ballot officers tested reactive from COVID rapid tests and could not immediately be replaced. In December 2020 also, the government insisted to hold ''Pilkades Serentak'' (Simultaneous village leader elections) in more than 1200 villages.

Elections

Gubernatorial

Mayoral

Regency

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indonesian local elections, 2020

Local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

December 2020 events in Indonesia 2020 local elections

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...