KAI President Tjutju Sandjaja handing over souvenir to Head of the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center Budi Achmad Djohari after closing of the Technical Assistance Program on the 2018 Simultaneous Governor, Regent, and Mayor Election Results Dispute Resolution for Indonesian advocates Batch III, Thursday (8/2) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. Photo by Humas MK/Wengky.

The implementation of the 2018 Simultaneous Regional Election (Pilkada) that will be near the Legislative and Presidential Elections is predicted to heavily influence the results of the 2019 General Elections. It will use a budget of up to dozens trillion rupiahs. This was conveyed by Head of the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center Budi Achmad Djohari before closing the Technical Assistance Program on the 2018 Simultaneous Governor, Regent, and Mayor Election Results Dispute Resolution for Indonesian Advocates Batch III, Thursday (8/2/2018) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor.

He said this would drive candidates and their campaign teams to give it all to win the election. This intense competition may result in negative effects. Budi added that stakeholders involved in the 2018 simultaneous regional elections, such as the KPU, Bawaslu, Panwaslu, the Supreme Court, and the lower courts must prepare for the implementation of this election better than in previous regional elections.

"We hope that the parties who will file a case in the Constitutional Court, the petitioners, the KPU as Respondent, the Relevant Parties, and other parties including Bawaslu, understand the procedures, mechanism, stages, and activities in handling the dispute over the election results," Budi explained. 

Budi also said the 2018 Simultaneous Governor, Regent, and Mayor Election is highly strategic, unless two previous regional elections. It will be held in 171 regions covering 17 provinces, 115 regencies, and 39 cities with a total of 569 candidate pairs, including 12 single candidates.

"The 2018 regional election is indeed not the greatest in terms of the number of regions. In 2015 the election was held in 269 regions. In 2017 it was held in 101 regions. However, in terms of the number of voters, the 2018 election is followed by almost 158 million people or around 80% of the total population of Indonesia who have the right to vote, which is estimated at 197 million people," he said. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti