2017 Simultaneous Regional Elections: West Papua Gubernatorial Election Spending Highest in Indonesia

West Papua ranks highest among provinces in terms of budget allocation for the 2017 gubernatorial election. The approved funding for the Regional Election Commission (KPUD) in West Papua reached Rp 506 billion. This expenditure is the highest compared to seven other provinces, or six times greater than the lowest allocation budgeted by Gorontalo Province at Rp 78 billion.

As published by the General Election Commission, the provinces holding simultaneous gubernatorial elections on February 15, 2017, were West Papua, Gorontalo, Jakarta, Banten, Bangka Belitung, West Sulawesi, and Aceh. Funding for these gubernatorial elections was allocated in the 2016 Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD) of each region. This democratic exercise is estimated to require Rp 1.6 trillion.

Based on planning and the amount of approved budget, Banten is the province with the most significant budget cuts. As reported by the KPUD, the amount of funds requested in this province reached Rp 299.8 billion, but the regional government only approved a budget of Rp 150 billion. Meanwhile, in Jakarta, both the KPU and the regional government agreed on a budget of Rp 478.4 billion.