TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD explained considerations taken by the government to not postpone the 2020 Regional Head Election or Pilkada on December 9, 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among the reasons, he said the government did not want 270 regions to be chaired by an acting head at the same time. “Because acting heads are not allowed to take strategic policies,” said Mahfud in a virtual coordination meeting on the election preparation on Tuesday, September 22.

Whereas, in this current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, he added, strategic policies that have implications for mobilizing bureaucracy and resources, including funds, are necessary. Thus, it would be a disadvantage for the regional administrations.

Moreover, there is no certainty when the pandemic will end. “Countries that are hit hard by Covid-19 pandemic such as the United States, do not postpone elections,” Mahfud remarked.

The simultaneous election, he went on, had already been delayed from its initial schedule on September 23, 2020. “What we need now is to anticipate massive transmission of Covid-19 as feared by the government and people who wish the election to be delayed, as well as to enforce the discipline of health protocols and strict law,” Mahfud Md underlined.

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