Portrait of Regional Elections 2018

It seems the 2018 regional elections to be held simultaneously will be more interesting than the regional elections in 2017.

Kompas/Handining

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The time has passed for the regional leadership of political parties to flock to Jakarta to ask for the central executive board’s blessing and recommended backing for the candidate pairs of the regional elections. There were those who were successful, and not a few who had their hopes dashed. What big picture can we draw of the simultaneous regional elections in 2018?

It seems the 2018 regional elections to be held simultaneously in 171 regions (17 provinces, 115 regencies and 39 cities) will be more interesting than the regional elections in 2017. The dynamics of last year’s regional elections were dominated by the freneticism of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, which was colored by the issues and emotionality of tribal affilication, religion, race and inter-groups (SARA). So rowdy was the reporting and public debate concerning the tug-of-war among candidates in the Jakarta gubernatorial election, that it seemed as though the 2017 regional election was held only in the nation\'s capital; whereas in fact, the regional elections were being held at the same time in 101 regions covering 7 provinces, 76 regencies and 18 cities across the country.