T

he Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) is planning to hold a meeting on Wednesday on campaign mechanisms for the upcoming gubernatorial election.

KPU Jakarta will meet with representatives of the campaign teams of all six candidate pairs at its office on Jl. Budi Kemuliaan in Central Jakarta.

Suhartono, the poll-body head for campaigning affairs, said on Tuesday that the meeting aimed to ensure that each campaign team understood the campaign regulations and to prevent clashes between the teams on illegal campaigning or smear tactics.

“We want them to understand what can be done and when to do it, and also what they cannot do,” Suhartono said.

The meeting would also discuss campaign schedules during the two-week campaign period, which will start on June 24. “We will set dates so that each candidate pairs get an equal amount of time. Places for campaign activities involving large crowds will also be scheduled to maintain security and public order.”

The political party-backed candidates are incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo and running mate Nachrowi Ramli; Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) patron Hidayat Nurwahid and economist Didik J. Rachbini; incumbent Mayor of Surakarta in Central Java Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and running mate former regent of East Belitung in Bangka-Belitung Islands Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama; South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin and retired general Nono Sampono.

The other two pairs of candidates are making history as the first independent tickets in the city, namely, economist Faisal Basri and entrepreneur Biem Benjamin; and retired general Hendardji Soepandji and politician Ahmad Riza Patria.

Jamaluddin F Hasyim, KPU Jakarta head for candidacy affairs, said that the poll body would also invite the local branch of the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu). “The 40-day window until the official campaign date will be crucial, because it would be impossible to expect a candidate to do absolutely nothing until the official date.”

KPU regulation says that there are three elements which define campaigning: the presence of a
candidate or their teams; promotional speeches; statements of vision, mission or programs; and promotional display items. Unless all of these elements are present in an activity, the KPU will not categorize it as campaigning.

Jamaluddin admitted that the loopholes would allow candidates to hold self-promotional activities outside the set schedule and that it would be very difficult to charge them with violating the regulations and the schedule.

Earlier this week, the Fauzi-Nachrowi camp reported the Jokowi-Ahok pair for illegal campaigning after the airing of a TV commercial showing Prabowo Subianto, Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chief patron, promoting the latter pair. Gerindra is one of two parties endorsing Jokowi-Ahok, along with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

On Tuesday, Muhammad Taufiq, chairman of the Jokowi-Ahok campaign team, denied the Prabowo commercial was illegal campaigning. “Prabowo was promoting himself for the 2014 presidential election. The Fauzi-Nachrowi camp misunderstood the campaigning regulation.”

Polling day is slated for July 11, with more than 7 million voters listed in the preliminary electoral roll. Unlike other regions, the capital city requires candidates to secure more than 50 percent of the vote to win.

— JP/Andreas D. Arditya