At the end of 2022, four New Autonomous Regions or DOB of Papua were officially established. The three regions are Highlands Papua, Central Papua, and South Papua, which are divisions of the Papua Province. Then the other one is Southwest Papua, a division of West Papua Province.
Even though it has not been established for a long time, the four new provinces have equal rights at the simultaneous general elections in 2024. That is why a selection was held to find the members of the KPU Selection Team for the four new autonomous regions in the land of Papua.
KPU: We Have Already Prepared and Established KPU Offices
The election for members of the KPU Selection Team in DOB of Papua has been going on since the beginning of 2023. Later, those members who pass the selection will be inaugurated on May 24. August Mellaz, a member of the General Election Commission of the Republic of Indonesia, stated this.
“Later, the KPU for the Provinces of Papua Mountains, Central Papua, and South Papua will be sworn in on May 24, 2023,” he stated.
Besides explaining the date of inauguration of the members of KPU for DOB of Papua, Mellaz also explained many other things. He conveyed all these things at the Zoom Meeting titled “Procedures for the Implementation of the New 2024 Election”. He answered all questions about concurrent elections.
During the meeting, Mellaz also mentioned the Government Regulation instead of Law Number 1 of 2022. It says that there are KPU offices available in the respective provincial capitals. So does with the four new provinces in Papua, which have only been officially established in the last few months.
In general, the capital of Highlands Papua Province is Wamena City, meanwhile, South Papua Province is capitalized at Merauke Regency. Then the capital of Southwest Papua Province is Sorong City. There is also a KPU office at Nabire Regency, the capital of Central Papua Province.
Mellaz said that there are already 16 provinces that are done with the selection process. However, for now, the four new autonomous regions of Papua have completed the interview stage. Thus, the total becomes 20 provinces.
Names of Candidates
After the selection process is complete, the KPU for each region will submit the names of the members who pass to the KPU RI. It includes the four new autonomous regions of Papua. These names are ready to undergo an inauguration to determine eligibility.
The inauguration process will occur in May, on the 24th. All of these inauguration processes will be carried out in Jakarta. It is to determine some definitive members who will work at the provincial KPU. Initially, members for each province were seven. But, for now, there are only five of them.
Mellaz explained that this was due to regional expansion so that the work area was getting narrower. This reduced KPU members, from the initial seven people to five people in each province.
Unlike the new autonomous regions of Papua, the Papua Province is still in the selection process. The reason is that the term of office differs for each province. Aside from Papua Province, 18 other provinces still have not completed their selection process up until now.
However, all the DOB of Papua had already finished the selection process. They have also sent the names of all the participants who passed to KPU RI at Jakarta. All those who have passed are ready to participate in the inauguration, which will be held on May 24.
