The Simultaneous Regional Head Elections that will be held in all regions in the Republic of Indonesia will take place in November 2024. Prospective regional heads who will take part in this political contestation have begun to submit completed registration documents. Various requirements must be met by anyone who will apply as a regional head candidate, including candidates in the Province of South West Papua. If in other regions all requirements for regional head candidates will only be verified by the General Election Commission, in the Province of South West Papua there is one verification process before the files are given to the election organizers. The South West Papua People’s Assembly has the authority to verify regional head candidates who will register for the general election. One of the privileges of the Province of West Papua is the implementation of special autonomy so that in matters of regional head elections, regional head candidates who will register must be native Papuans.
Submission of registration documents for regional head candidates in West Papua is submitted by the South West Papua People’s Assembly to the General Election Commission of the Province of South West Papua. The registration process for regional head candidates who will advance in the regional head election as candidates for governor and deputy governor in the province must first go through the people’s assembly. The verification process is also carried out by following the rules of the special autonomy that is applied so that if it has passed the verification, the new data is given to the organizer who has the authority to officially register regional head candidates, namely the General Election Commission. The requirement of authenticity as a native Papuan is an important point in the verification process.
A series of regional head candidate registration flows were also carried out by the South West Papua People’s Assembly. The results that emerged were that out of five regional head candidates, four of them met the requirements of authenticity as native Papuans and then all files would be submitted to the South West Papua Provincial Election Commission. One candidate was declared to have not passed the verification and could not register as a regional head candidate who could be elected in the regional head election at the end of 2024.
The special autonomy implemented in the Province of South West Papua has involvement in various aspects of community life, one of which is the political aspect. The regional head who will lead the community has a mandatory requirement, namely being a native Papuan. Of course, this is in accordance with the mandate in the implementation of special autonomy, namely giving all authority to native Papuans for the advancement of society. The regional head election that will be held in the Province of Southwest Papua finally has four pairs of governor and deputy governor candidates who have passed the verification by the South West Papua People’s Assembly. Whatever the results of the general election, the people will be led by indigenous Papuans.
