Participation In The 2024 West Java Pilkada Decreased, Far Below The 76 Percent Target

Illustration of the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada (ANTARA)

The West Java General Election Commission (KPU) noted that the level of community participation in the 2024 Regional Head Election (Pilkada) reached 65.97 percent, far below the 76 percent target. This figure is also lower than the participation of the 2018 Regional Head Election which reached 74 percent.

"Yes, this must have gone down. This is our job to raise it again, but of course in the coming period," said West Java KPU chairman Ahmad Nur Hidayat, on Monday 9 December.

The Head of the Technical Division of the West Java KPU, Adi Saputro, emphasized that the downward trend in participation requires an in-depth study and will be an evaluation material in the future. "God willing, this will be something we evaluate to increase voter participation," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the West Java KPU Data and Information Division, Ummi Wahyuni, views participation as 65.97 percent as a decent achievement considering that West Java is the province with the largest number of voters in Indonesia. "Despite the downward trend, several regions have shown an increase in participation," he said.

Ummi also appreciated the smooth implementation of the Pilkada with nearly 74,000 polling stations (TPS) in 27 districts/cities. "This shows the good performance of the West Java KPU along with all stakeholders who support us," he added.

In the 2024 West Java Governor Election (Pilgub) contest which was attended by four pairs of candidates, the Dedi Mulyadi-Erwan Setiawan pair came out as the highest votes with 14,130,192 votes.

Another pair won the results of Ahmad Syaikhu-Ilham Akbar Habibie: 4,260,072 votes. Acep Adang Ruhiat-Gitalis Dwinatrina: 2,204,452 votes and Jeje Wiradinata-Ronal Surapradja: 2,116,017 votes.

The results were announced at the Open Pleno Meeting of Recapitulation and Determination of the Results of the Vote Calculation at the West Java KPU Building. With the dominant vote, the Dedi-Erwan pair is confirmed to be the Governor and Deputy Governor of West Java for the next period.