TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Presidential spokesman Fadjroel Rachman said the implementation of the 2020 Regional Head Election or Pilkada will remain on schedule on December 9, 2020. This, he argued, was aimed at maintaining the people’s constitutional rights, namely the right to be voted and to vote.

“President Jokowi asserts that Pilkada cannot wait for the pandemic to end because no country knows when the Covid-19 pandemic will end,” said Fadjroel on Monday, September 21, 2020.

Fadjroel said the president ordered the simultaneous election to be held under strict health protocols along with law enforcement, including sanctions, in an effort to prevent new infection clusters.

Establishing Pilkada amid a pandemic, he went on, was not impossible. Other countries such as Singapore, Germany, France, and South Korea also held general elections despite the outbreak under strict protocols.

“The government calls on all parties to work together to prevent potential new clusters of Covid-19 transmission at every stage of Pilkada,” said Fadjroel.

Based on the General Election Committee’s (KPU) regulation No. 6/2020, the simultaneous election must be under the health protocols without recognizing the zoning status. All related ministries and institutions have also prepared every measure to hold a safe election.

Recently, many parties suggested Jokowi’s government to halt the 2020 Pilkada, including an election watchdog the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) over rising Covid-19 cases related to the election process. Besides, three KPU commissioners tested positive for the disease.

Read also: NU Calls for Regional Head Elections Postponement Owing to COVID-19

EGI ADYATAMA