T

he Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has found irregularities in the campaign fund reports of candidates participating in the simultaneous local elections scheduled for next month.

Bawaslu commissioner Daniel Zuchron said on Wednesday that tracking down the irregularities was easier now that all candidates were required to submit their campaign fund reports before balloting took place.

'€œIn the past, many candidates did not submit their campaign fund reports even after the election results came out. But not this time,'€ he told a press conference at the Bawaslu headquarters in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

After poring through campaign fund reports, Bawaslu found that some candidates had received
donations that amounted to higher than the imposed limit, had received donations from dubious contributors or outrightly engaged in vote-buying.

Bawaslu found that the backgrounds of several donors did not seem to match the amount of money they donated. Daniel cited an example of a driver in Surabaya named Taufiqurahman, who lives in a fisherman village in Kenjeran, Surabaya, but contributed Rp 50 million (US$3,630) to a candidate.

'€œWhy does this report include an individual who surely could not afford to make such a donation considering his economic background?'€ he said.

Bawaslu also found some individual donors who contributed amounts above the limits imposed by local General Elections Commissions (KPUD).

In a number of regions the total amount of funds pooled by candidates reached a staggering Rp 62.1 billion.

Daniel also blamed the KPUDs for having no clear standard on campaign fund limits.

'€œThe limit doesn'€™t jibe with the regional budgets [APBD] or population size,'€ he said.

Kediri regency in East Java, for instance, set a limit of Rp 23.3 billion, while Surabaya, the capital of East Java, set its limit at Rp 14.2 billion.

'€œIf we look at the population size, Surabaya, with its 2.9 million people clearly outweighs Kediri, which only has 1.5 million people. Surabaya'€™s regional budget also stood at Rp 7.2 trillion, compared to Kediri'€™s regional budget of Rp 2.3 trillion,'€ said Daniel.

Furthermore, the quality of some of the campaign fund reports submitted by each candidate lack key details.

'€œOverall, we still need to verify the reports during the campaign period,'€ Daniel said. '€œSome of the reports reported small funds while others have an excessive amount. This shows that the reports are merely a formality, a requirement to avoid punishment, without having an accountability report in mind.'€

Despite the findings, Daniel said that Bawaslu would have to wait for regional election candidates to submit their latest campaign fund reports on Dec. 7, which would then include spending during the campaign period.

In the meantime, Bawaslu would instruct all regional election supervisory committees (Panwaslu) to follow up on the findings, Bawaslu expert staffer Rikson Nababan said.

'€œWe will instruct all of them to record all campaign logistics used by candidates, whether they are goods, services or money. We have also come up with a method to measure or convert campaign tools and other expenses that are difficult to record,'€ he said on Wednesday.