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What's behind the push for delaying Indonesia's 2024 presidential polls?
The political elite is divided amid another apparent bid to extend the President’s time in office.
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Indonesia President Joko Widodo in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, where the government will build its new capital city, on March 15, 2022.
PHOTO: AFP
Johannes Nugroho
Indonesia is currently caught up in a political tug of war over a possible delay to the next presidential election scheduled for 2024. The political elite is polarised between those who support a proposal to postpone the election and those who are opposed. The year 2024 is politically significant because it is when President Joko Widodo finishes his second and last term in office.
The first to propose delaying the election was Mr Bahlil Lahadalia, Minister of Investment and chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board. The minister floated the idea in January. He claimed that the business community was concerned that the political upheaval associated with election time might disrupt Indonesia's post-pandemic economic recovery.
