Indonesia
A voter casts his ballot into a ballot box at a polling station during a revote on Dec. 3, 2024, for the 2024 simultaneous regional elections in Makassar, South Sulawesi. (Antara/Adwit Pramono)
Several political parties have welcomed the Constitutional Court's recent ruling reaffirming that regional heads must continue to be elected directly by voters, a decision observers say effectively closes the door on renewed proposals to scrap direct regional elections.The ruling followed a renewed push by President Prabowo Subianto to return to an electoral system used during the authoritarian New Order era, when governors, regents and mayors were selected by regional legislative councils (DPRD), a move critics say could reverse hard-won democratic reforms.
Support for the proposal has been growing among pro-government parties in recent months, ahead of a planned revision to the Regional Elections Law in the House of Representatives, which is now dominated by political parties backing Prabowo’s administration.
In a ruling on Monday, the court dismissed a petition challenging a provision in the prevailing law that defines regional polls as being conducted “directly and democratically”.
