A worker walks on the roof of Indonesian Parliament Building in Jakarta, Indonesia, December 5, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's upper house speaker on Wednesday said it was important for the country to discuss a means by which it could delay elections in times of crisis, such as natural disasters, wars, or pandemics.
Indonesia currently has no framework to postpone an election and some politicians have called for the constitution to be amended in future to allow a delay in an emergency situation.
Indonesia, the world's third-largest democracy, will hold a general election on Feb. 14 next year, during which a successor will be chosen to replace President Joko Widodo, whose second and final term ends next year.
"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.
"This is important for us to think about and discuss together."
Repeated talk among politicians about the potential to delay an election has been a thorny issue in Indonesia, where there has been on-off speculation of manoeuvring by the president's allies to allow him to stay on beyond his second term, so he can complete his economic agenda.
Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, has repeatedly denied he wants to serve longer.
Parliament last week agreed on a plan to change the constitution to allow for a delay in the event of an emergency, but only after the 2024 elections were over.
Law experts and activists have previously said that any attempt to delay elections to allow a president to extend their stay in office would undo democratic gains achieved after the fall of the authoritarian rule of President Suharto in 1998.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Gayatri Suroyo, Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin Petty)
