The Real cost of Simultaneous Elections

The government seems to be leading us astray with regards to the regional elections, scheduled to take place this week. First, it calls them 'simultaneous elections', but in fact only nine regions will be electing their governors, regents or mayors simultaneously. The other 260 regions will only be electing regents and mayors and will hold their gubernatorial elections separately.

Secondly, because of the understanding that all polls must be carried out simultaneously, all resources have been dedicated to making it happen. This has placed many regions having not enough skilled and experienced personnel to manage the polls in a bit of a jam. Until last week, some areas had only managed to distribute ballot papers and others had not even managed to have their electoral funding disbursed. This does not include 100 or more disputes and lawsuits submitted by candidates who refuse to accept the verdicts of the General Elections Commission (KPU) on their eligibility, which has caused some elections to be delayed, or in some cases, to be repeated.

December 8, 2015