The 2024 Bangka Belitung Islands gubernatorial election was held on 27 November 2024 as part of nationwide local elections to elect the governor and vice governor of the Bangka Belitung Islands for a five-year term. The previous election was held in 2017. Former Vice Governor Hidayat Arsani of Golkar secured a narrow victory, receiving 50% of the vote. He defeated former Governor Erzaldi Rosman Djohan of the Gerindra Party, who received 49%.
Electoral system
The election, like other local elections in 2024, follow the first-past-the-post system where the candidate with the most votes wins the election, even if they do not win a majority. It is possible for a candidate to run uncontested, in which case the candidate is still required to win a majority of votes "against" an "empty box" option. Should the candidate fail to do so, the election will be repeated on a later date.
Candidates
According to electoral regulations, in order to qualify for the election, candidates were required to secure support from a political party or a coalition of parties controlling 9 seats (20 percent of all seats) in the Bangka Belitung Islands Regional House of Representatives (DPRD). The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, which won 9 of 45 seats in the 2024 legislative election, is the only party eligible to nominate a candidate without forming a coalition with other parties. However, following a Constitutional Court of Indonesia decision in August 2024, the political support required to nominate a candidate was lowered to between 6.5 and 10 percent of the popular vote. Candidates may alternatively demonstrate support to run as an independent in form of photocopies of identity cards, which in Bangka Belitung Islands's case corresponds to 106,744 copies. No independent candidates registered with the General Elections Commission prior to the set deadline.
Declared
The following candidates qualified to contest the election:
Potential
The following are individuals who have either been publicly mentioned as a potential candidate by a political party in the DPRD, publicly declared their candidacy with press coverage, or considered as a potential candidate by media outlets:
- Erzaldi Rosman Djohan (Gerindra), previous governor.
- Hidayat Arsani (Golkar), former vice governor.
- Naziarto, former provincial secretary.
Political map
Following the 2024 Indonesian legislative election, nine political parties are represented in the Bangka Belitung Islands DPRD:
Aftermath
Hidayat Arsani, along with his running mate Hellyana, won the election with 50% of the vote. Hidayat Arsani and Ria Norsan, who won the 2024 West Kalimantan gubernatorial election, became the first Chinese Muslims to be elected governors in Indonesia. They, along with Sherly Tjoanda, who won the 2024 North Maluku gubernatorial election, created another historic milestone as the first Chinese Indonesians who were directly elected Governor after failed attempts to reach this milestone by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who contested the 2007 Bangka Belitung Islands and 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial elections.