SEAToday.com, Malang – Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU) member August Mellaz announced that the KPU would instruct regional offices to issue a formal decision regarding the establishment of a national holiday on November 27, 2024, the date of the upcoming simultaneous regional elections.

“In the near future, we’ll issue instructions to Provincial and Regency/Municipal KPUs to prepare decision letters related to the election day on November 27, 2024,” Mellaz stated during an interview in Batu, Malang, East Java, on Sunday evening, November 10.

He explained that during previous elections, each provincial and regency/municipal KPU had issued a similar decision letter to declare election days as holidays.

Election-related holiday regulations are mandated by law to allow citizens ample opportunity to exercise their voting rights on polling day.

“The law stipulates that every election day is either a holiday or an official day off,” Mellaz added.

The simultaneous elections will be held on a national holiday or designated day off, according to Article 167, paragraph 3 of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections and Article 84, paragraph 3 of Law No. 1 of 2015, which formalized Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2014 on Regional Elections for Governors, Regents, and Mayors.

Previously, on Friday, November 8, Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi confirmed that the government is considering declaring November 27, 2024, a national holiday for the regional head elections.

“Yes, that’s the plan. I intend to coordinate soon with both the KPU and the Minister of Home Affairs,” Prasetyo said after seeing off President Prabowo Subianto at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in Jakarta.

Prasetyo further noted he would coordinate promptly with KPU and Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian for additional discussions.

When questioned about the holiday designation, Prasetyo requested some time, as this will be the first occasion of simultaneous elections conducted across all provinces and districts/cities.

At the 2024 National Coordination Meeting of Central and Regional Governments held in Sentul on Thursday, November 7, KPU Chairman Mochammad Afifuddin confirmed that preparations for the 2024 simultaneous Regional Head Elections are nearly complete, with readiness at 99 percent.

Afifuddin mentioned that KPU has fully prepared election logistics. On this day, KPUs across Indonesia also conducted the simultaneous inauguration of the voting organizer group (KPPS).

The 2024 simultaneous elections will cover 37 provinces, 415 regencies, and 93 cities.

A total of 1,557 candidate pairs will participate in these elections, with 1,169 pairs for regent and deputy regent positions, and 285 pairs for mayor and deputy mayor positions.