IO – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD insisted President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has made his stance clear on the issue of elections postponement. The President expects the elections to be held as scheduled.
The simultaneous elections date has been set: February 14, 2024. “The President has instructed the Home Minister and I, to do what is necessary in preparation for the elections,” said Mahfud on Monday (3/7).
Jokowi has expressed his disagreement to the proposal to postpone the 2024 elections, so Mahfud asked other parties to stop pressuring the President on the issue.
Mahfud also confirmed that the Government had never discussed about delaying the elections. “Nor about extending the presidential term,” he added.
Election postponement has become a hot topic after National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar raised the issue with the media. The notion to postpone the elections for one to two years was welcomed by several other political party leaders, such as Golkar chairman Airlangga Hartarto and PAN chairman Zulkifi Hasan. Both argued that the Indonesian economy is still fragile due to the pandemic. Thus, the 2024 elections should be postponed so the government could focus more on stimulating economic recovery. Nevertheless, the idea was staunchly opposed by Nasdem, PKS, Demokrat, Gerindra, PPP and PDI-P. (des)