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Bawaslu urged to monitor candidates' supporters
The Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) should monitor the supporters of each candidate contesting the upcoming presidential election as with only two contenders taking part, rivalry could turn violent, a political expert has said
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he Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) should monitor the supporters of each candidate contesting the upcoming presidential election as with only two contenders taking part, rivalry could turn violent, a political expert has said.
'Political rivalry will be fierce. Friction at the grassroots level, especially among candidate supporters, will be substantial. Bawaslu must be ready to anticipate such friction,' Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicate executive director Ari Nurcahyo said in a discussion in Lembang, West Java, on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.
He said both candidates had a great number of fanatical supporters who had the potential to become involved not only in physical clashes but also a war of words on social media.
Ari further said that the two presidential tickets ' Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo- Jusuf Kalla and Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa ' had deep resentment toward each other.
'Prabowo deeply resents Megawati ' chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle [PDI-P] ' due to the Batu Tulis pact. It is unfortunate that these two leaders have never sat down and talked at the same table as Jokowi,' he said.
The Batu Tulis pact was a political agreement signed by Megawati and Prabowo on May 16, 2009, before they registered with the General Elections Commission (KPU) as presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2009 presidential election.
The last of seven articles in the pact stated that Megawati would support Prabowo in the 2014 presidential election.
The Gerindra-led coalition comprises the National Mandate Party, the United Development Party, the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party and represents 292 or 45.3 percent of the 560 seats at the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, the PDI-P-led coalition, which includes the NasDem Party, the National Awakening Party and the Hanura Party, secured only 207 or 39.97 percent of total seats. (gda/ebf)
