Simultaneous local elections (
Pilkada Serentak) was first held in Indonesia on
2015. The country held another simultaneous regional election in 2017, making the 2018 election the third. The next set of regional elections are set to be held in 2020 and 2024, the latter one being simultaneous with the presidential and legislative elections. It is also planned that regional offices with elections in 2017 and 2018 are to be held by centrally appointed officials starting from the end of their five-year terms until the 2024 elections. It has been described as a run-up to the
2019 national elections, due to the fact that the three most populous provinces in the country (
West Java,
East Java and
Central Java) hosting 48 percent of voters in 2014 are to vote, with the elections covering 31 provinces altogether. 152 million of the country's 260 million citizens were eligible to vote in the elections. Some observers also described the election as a follow-up to the 2017 elections, particularly the
Jakartan election where
Gerindra and
PKS-backed
Anies Baswedan defeated
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, commonly seen as president
Joko Widodo's ally. The
Indonesian National Police identified several provinces as being prone to conflicts arising from the results of the elections, namely
North Sumatra,
West Java,
East Java,
South Sulawesi, and
Papua. ==Schedule==