The 2024 West Kalimantan gubernatorial election was held on 27 November 2024 to elect the governor and vice governor of West Kalimantan for a five-year term. The election was held as part of local elections for governors, regents, and mayors across 36 other provinces in Indonesia.
Sutarmidji, the previous elected governor, was eligible to run for a second term. He was challenged by his former Vice Governor Ria Norsan as well as former Kubu Raya Regent Muda Mahendrawan. As a result, three candidate pairs participated in the election. Norsan won the election with 52% of the vote. He also won all cities and 10 regencies, losing only the Sambas and North Kayong regencies. Sutarmidji received 37%, while Mahendrawan placed a distant third with 9%.
Electoral system
The election, like other local elections in 2024, follows 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 which had gained at least 8.5% of valid votes in the 2024 West Kalimantan Regional House of Representatives election. Therefore the PDI-P (19%), NasDem (13%), Golkar (12%), Gerindra (12%), and the Democratic Party (9%) were eligible to nominate a candidate without forming coalitions with other political parties. Candidates may alternatively demonstrate support in form of photocopies of identity cards, which in West Kalimantan's case corresponds to 300,883 copies. Former regent of Kubu Raya Muda Mahendrawan initially registered to run as an independent and submitted enough support to the General Elections Commission, but later withdrew his registration as an independent citing potential support from political parties.
Declared
These following candidates qualified to contest the election:
Political map
Following the 2024 Indonesian general election, ten political parties were represented in the West Kalimantan Regional House of Representatives:
Aftermath
Ria Norsan, who has partial Chinese ancestry from his mother's side, and Hidayat Arsani who won the 2024 Bangka Belitung Islands 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 governors after failed attempts to reach this milestone by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who contested the 2007 Bangka Belitung Islands and the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial elections.