The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) warned the public to maintain vigilance on possible campaign violations during the calm period, including displaying campaign banners and pay-to-vote practices.
Bawaslu member Wirdyaningsih said the institution had told the regional election supervisory committees (Panwaslu) to keep an eye for any stray campaign banners that may still be on display during the three-day calm period
She said Bawaslu also urged the public to report any cases of voters being paid to vote for candidates.
“Bawaslu is actually very concerned about people suddenly campaigning during the eve of the
voting day and the possible practice of people paying other people to vote for candidates because we are still getting reports of this in the regions,” Wirdyaningsih said Sunday.
“Bawaslu have worked with the Regional Election Commissions (KPUD) and public orders
officers to ensure taking down of campaign banners that are still up for public display. We also urge campaign teams to take down these banners.”
The calm period of the presidential campaign began at midnight past Saturday and continues until voting day on Wednesday.
All campaign publicity should have been taken down from public display by midnight past Saturday, though in several areas, such as along Bahari beach in Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi, one can still see campaign publicity displayed in the streets.
When asked whether Bawaslu had done anything to remove banners that were still up for public display in several areas, Wirdyaningsih said the institution would continue to locate such banners and tear them down.
“That job really should have been done by the campaign teams of each candidate,” she said.
“We have reprimanded the campaign teams that are still in clear violation of this rule and have taken down any that we see,” she said.
Wirdyaningsih added that Jakarta public order officers had taken down some 1,193 campaign attributes in the middle class Menteng residential area of Central Jakarta.
When asked whether Bawaslu foresaw any drawbacks stemming from problems with the voters list, Wirdyaningsih evaded the question by saying that her office had only received the revised version of the voters list and not the final voters list from the General Election Commission (KPU).
“Up until now, we still can’t verify whether there really is a problem with the voters list for the presidential election, nor can we challenge the KPU in postponing the election since they, in the end, have the final say on the election schedule,” she said.
