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Bawaslu intensifies efforts to fight against vote buying in Jakarta election
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People write their signatures on a poster on Car Free Day on Aug. 14 in Jakarta to indicate their support for a campaign by the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to stop vote buying (kompas.com/David Oliver Purba)
T
he Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has vowed to intensify efforts to prevent vote buying, known locally as "money politics", in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election through coordination with the National Police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
Bawaslu commissioner Nasrullah said with the upcoming election in sight, the agency has continued to raise awareness of the importance of fair competition among the candidates, since such foul play would be bothersome for law enforcers.
"We already have overcrowding in penitentiaries and the government has spent too much on prisoners' needs. It will be better to see no candidate arrested for money politics, which is illegal and dangerous," Nasrullah said in Jakarta on Friday.
He asserted that the sentra gakkum (law enforcement center), which was established to create synergy between election supervisors, the police and prosecutors, would impose sanctions, such as disqualification and criminal penalties, on all parties found guilty of vote buying.
Bawaslu had finished drafting a joint regulation as a guidelines for the sentra gakkum, Nasrullah said, adding that the agency was now waiting for National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian and Attorney General H. M. Prasetyo to sign the draft.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, with whom the Bawaslu team coordinated on Friday, also encouraged the commitment of the sentra gakkum in enforcing the law to ensure a real democratic election. (ags)
