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Six issues to watch ahead of election day
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General Elections Commission (KPU) officials watch monitors displaying information from the commission's official website at the KPU Jakarta headquarters on Jan. 18. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf) (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
W
ith simultaneous regional elections just around the corner, six issues need to be watched as they have the potential to mar the elections on Feb. 15.
People's Voter Education Network (JPPR) national coordinator Masykurudin Hafid said the first issue was smear campaigns through the use of hoaxes and hate speech to attack candidates.
"Hoax news spreads fast," Masykurudin said, adding that he hoped all election-related institutions, candidates and citizens could work together to overcome the issue.
The second issue is logistics, as the General Elections Commission (KPU) has to ensure that election materials are distributed safely to each region.
"The KPU cannot send them too soon or too late to each region," Masykurudin said, adding that distributing logistics too early could trigger fraud.
The third issue is campaign attributes, which should be taken down before the cooling-off period from Feb. 12 to 14, Masykurudin went on.
(Read also: People still permissive of vote buying: Bawaslu)
The next issue is money politics. Masykurudin raised concerns about the practice of money politics combined with intimidation and hate speech.
The next problem is citizens’ right to vote. Masykurudin said that of 41.8 million eligible voters, 5 million still had regular identity cards, not electronic ID cards (e-KTP). In the elections, voters must hold e-KTP or residence certificates issued by the Civil Registry and Demography Agency. This policy could disenfranchise many voters without e-KTP, Masykurudin said.
Last, Masykurudin raised his concerns about campaign funds, which all candidate pairs should report by Feb. 12. (hol) (trw)
