Indonesia upper house speaker says 'important' to discuss means to delay elections

JAKARTA: The speaker of Indonesia's upper house of parliament said on Wednesday it was important for the country to discuss the means to delay elections in times of natural disasters, wars, or pandemics.

Indonesia, the world's third-largest democracy, must hold national elections every five years, with the next vote scheduled for Feb. 14.

Indonesia currently has no framework to delay an election and some politicians have called for the constitution to be amended to allow a postponement.

"How do we hold elections in the case of unexpected events occurring, like big natural disasters, wars, revolts, or pandemics," Bambang Soesatyo, the upper house speaker, said in an annual address ahead of Indonesia's Independence Day.

"These are important for us to think about and discuss together."

Bambang did not propose any constitutional changes that would allow for a delay. Parliament said last week it planned such changes.

The idea of delaying national elections has been a thorny issue in Indonesia, where there has been on-off speculation that moves were afoot to try to postpone the polls, to allow President Joko Widodo to stay in power beyond his second term, which ends next year.

The president has repeatedly denied he wants to stay on longer.