Indonesia will be holding its annual regional elections on 27 June 2018. This year, elections will be held simultaneously in 17 provinces and in 154 districts and cities throughout Indonesia. Of particular interest is the gubernatorial elections in five provinces of West Java, Central Java, East Java, North Sumatra, and South Sulawesi.

Approximately two-thirds of Indonesia’s population (174 out of 261 million) are estimated to live in these five provinces, making them politically significant. Regional elections in these provinces are also considered as a political barometer for the 2019 general election. Whoever is elected governor – and their sponsoring parties – can influence next year’s legislative and presidential campaigns within their provinces through their control of the provincial bureaucracy.

… Alexander R Arifianto PhD is a Research Fellow with the Indonesia Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. This is part of a series on Indonesia’s simultaneous regional elections.

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