2024 elections to be the biggest ever, President tells poll watchdog

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to exercise caution during the 2024 General Elections and regional head elections.

The elections will be the largest ever democratic fiesta in Indonesia, if not the world, he said during the national consolidation meeting of Bawaslu in Jakarta on Saturday.

Bawaslu will play a central role in supervising the general elections to ensure they are of good quality, he added.

“Compared to the previous elections, (the 2024 elections) will be the largest (ever held). Be careful (the elections) will likely be the heaviest. (Once again,) be careful (the elections) will involve a huge number of voters with a wide election span,” he said.

Having organized elections in the past, Indonesia has experience, which will be more than enough to prepare for the next elections, which will be far better, he added.

The head of state said that the quality of general elections serves as an important political foundation in the life of the state and government.

“To maintain the integrity of elections, supervision must be done during all phases of elections. The entire process must be supervised accurately and handled carefully to develop elections of good quality,” he said.

The President further said that public trust is key to the democratic process. Reliable elections will yield strong legitimacy.

A definitive list of voters is often used to allege fraud, Widodo noted.

To that end, he expected Bawaslu chief Rahmat Bagja to supervise the process of drafting the definitive list of voters. Bawaslu should report any party trying to obstruct the process.

 

Source: Antara News