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Vote-buying suspected in 6 Central Java regencies
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On duty: Election officers at polling station 8, Mangusari, Sidomukti, Salatiga, Central Java, wear Javanese outfits on election day on Feb.15.
(Antara/Aloysius Jarot Nugroho)
V
ote-buying is suspected to have occurred in six regencies across Central Java on Feb. 15, the Central Java Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has said.
The six regencies are Banjarnegara, Batang, Brebes, Cilacap, Jepara and Pati.
Bawaslu Central Java head Abhan Misbah said Salatiga was the only region where no vote-buying practices were found. “We found dozens of [vote-buying] cases. Pati had the highest number with 13 reports,” he said in Semarang on Thursday.
“Envelopes containing Rp 15,000 [US$1.15] to Rp 20,000 were distributed. However, there is no sign that messages or stickers bearing the pictures of a candidate pair were on the envelopes. We are still investigating the matter,” said Abhan.
In Pati, only one candidate pair, incumbent Regent Haryanto and businessman Saiful Arifin, ran in the election. Ballots in Pati had a blank box to enable people to vote against the ticket.
Activist Sutiyoso said volunteers who favored the blank box had found vote-buying cases. “We reported the suspected vote-buying to the supervisory committee one day before election day,” he said.
Jepara Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) member Muhammad Oliz said it was suspected that vote-buying had marred the election in the regency, but no parties had reported the cases to Panwaslu.
In Jepara, Subroto (incumbent deputy regent) and Nur Yahman ran in the election against Marzuki (non-active regent) and Dian Kristiandi. (ebf)
