12,621 Villages in Indonesia Held Elections amid 2021 Pandemic

TheIndonesia.id - Indonesia's Ministry of Home Affairs is evaluating the implementation of the 2021 simultaneous Village Head Elections (Pilkades) in more than 12 thousand villages as well as making preparations for the upcoming 2022 elections in other regions that have postponed the event last year.

Director-General of Village Government at the Ministry of Home Affairs Yusharto Huntoyungo highlighted updates regarding village head elections in all regions throughout Indonesia. Huntoyungo explained that several regions had not conducted the elections due to several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, a total of 191 districts and cities have conducted pilkades comprising 12,612 villages in 2,309 sub-districts with 21,453,486 voters, 54,215 polling stations, and 37,089 village head candidates. "However, 47 districts and cities have postponed pilkades due to several reasons, including the level of Community Activity Restriction (PPKM) in each region," he said as quoted by Antara on Thursday, February 3, 2022.

Huntoyungo lauded the regions that had organized the elections. He is optimistic that the elected village heads can conduct their duties well.

"We really praise the districts and cities that have conducted Pilkades. We hope that elected village heads would be trustworthy in fulfilling their duties. Next, 153 districts and cities will develop their plans for the 2022 Pilkades," he stated.

Huntoyungo remarked that the process of conducting village head elections was not only monitored by the Ministry of Home Affairs but also by other ministries and institutions. The various agencies include the National Police, Ministry of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Kemendes PDTT), the Ministry of Health, and other institutions. Various parties' involvement was mainly to monitor the enforcement of health protocols during the elections, he noted.

Director of Village Administration and Management Aferi Syamsidar Fudail also noted that the 2021 Pilkades was successful and it was conducted with the implementation of strict health protocols. "The candidates also disseminated information on COVID-19 handling and its impact on the social-economic progress in the village during their campaign for the election," he added.