The 2024 West Kutai regency election was held on 27 November 2024 as part of simultaneous nationwide local elections in order to elected the regent and vice regent of West Kutai, East Kalimantan, for the 2025âÂÂ2030 term. Frederick Edwin, a businessman and son of former regent Ismail Thomas, defeated two other candidates after securing 37,282 votes (39.6%).
The election, like other local elections in 2024, followed 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 would have been repeated on a later date.
The West Kutai General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on 20 September 2024 that the election would have 128,104 eligible voters who were to vote in 321 polling stations. The municipal government granted Rp 48 billion from its budget for the election, primarily in grants to KPU and the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), in addition to additional funding for the local police and military unit for security expenses.
One of the candidates in the election, Frederick Edwin, is a businessman, PDI-P member, and younger son of former two-term West Kutai regent Ismail Thomas. Running with Nanang Adriani, Edwin received the endorsement of seven political parties with seats in the municipal legislature (PDI-P, Gerindra, Nasdem, Demokrat, PKB, PKS, and PAN) plus four other parties.
Another candidate, Sahadi, is a former civil servant within the municipal government. Having retired from his job to run in the election, he received the endorsements of Hanura and Perindo in addition to PKN. Sahadi's running mate Alexander Edmond is Frederick Edwin's older brother and also a businessman.
Golkar ran its own candidate, municipal legislature member Ahmad Syaiful. His running mate, Jainudin, was a Gerindra member of the municipal legislature, although the ticket did not receive Gerindra's endorsement.
Incumbent regent Fransiskus Xaverius Yapan had served two terms and was ineligible for reelection, and instead endorsed the SahadiâÂÂEdmond ticket.
Two rounds of public debates between the candidates were held on 14 October and 3 November 2024. The final campaign event of the EdwinâÂÂAdriani ticket, held in Sendawar on 21 November, involved Jakarta-based rock band and was attended by thousands of spectators.
Out of West Kutai's sixteen districts, Frederick EdwinâÂÂNanang Adriani won the most votes in six districts, while Ahmad SyaifulâÂÂJainudin and SahadiâÂÂAlexander Edmond both won the most votes in five districts. Edwin and Adriani were sworn in on 20 February 2025.