Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Indonesia will hold general elections (elections) in February 2024. In this election, citizens will elect legislative members at the city/district, provincial and central levels and also elect the president (presidential election) who will lead for the next five years.
So far, there are three presidential candidates (captes) who are competing, namely Prabowo Subianto, Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan. Especially for Ganjar and Anies, both of them have registered with the KPU.
Ganjar will run with Mahfud MD as vice presidential candidate (cawapres). Meanwhile, Anies took Muhaimin Iskandar as his co-progressor.
For Prabowo, the Minister of Defense figure will register immediately. He and the coalition have appointed President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi) son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as his vice presidential candidate.
Media from Singapore, Channel News Asia (CNA), highlighting this. Where the analytical article was created entitled “Analysis: Indonesia set to see first 3-way presidential race since 2009 that risks splitting society”.
It explains how having more than two pairs of candidates gives voters more choices. However, it is highly unlikely that a pair of candidates can win in just one round, considering that no one is an incumbent and the candidates’ popularity ratings currently range between 20 to 36%.
“In Indonesian election rules, if no one gets more than 50% plus one vote, then the two couples who get the most votes will take part in the second round of voting,” he wrote.
“As no poll shows the pair’s popularity rating at more than 50%, Indonesia will likely hold a second round of voting on June 26 next year,” he added.
“According to the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) poll on October 22, Prabowo and Gibran are leading with 35.9%. This is followed by Ganjar and Mahfud with 26.1%. In third place are Anies and Cak Imin whose popularity rating is 19 .6%,” he said CNA Again.
The media also includes the opinions of a number of observers. Among these are the risks arising from the presidential election.
One of them is the risk that religious leaders will be more exploited because of the large number of their followers. It’s at least loaded CNA referring to the opinion of University of Indonesia (UI) election law lecturer Titi Anggraini.
“If there are three candidates, there will be more people who want to get the support of these leaders. The candidates will try their best to win them over,” said Titi, as reported by the news agency.
Although election law prohibits places of worship from being used for campaigning, there is a gray area. Where the Election Supervisory Body (BAWASLU) will have difficulty determining the violation.
“Because, for example, there is no prohibition on visiting Islamic boarding schools, and we all know the authorities don’t have much access to Islamic boarding schools,” added Titi.
Islamic boarding schools are places where many religious leaders spend their time. They are respected by students who are likely to be first-time voters. Whatever the leader says, the students will likely follow.
“So if there is a religious figure who supports a certain candidate, then students can vote for the same person,” he added CNA quote it again.
Political identity will also be used as much as possible to gain votes. As a result, it is likely that society will become more polarized compared to previous elections in 2019, where Islam was used as a campaign tool even though both Jokowi and Prabowo are Muslim.
“Nationalists will present themselves as religious people, while Islamists will emphasize their nationalism without abandoning their Islamic identity,” he quoted. CNA again contains Titi’s opinion.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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