“I was invited [by the Ahok-Djarot team] for a discussion regarding the mechanism for the runoff election,” KPU Jakarta head Sumarno said on Thursday. 

Sumarno, who has received criticism for meeting gubernatorial candidate Anies Baswedan during a re-vote at a polling station in Kalibata, South Jakarta, said he did not worry that his neutrality would be questioned by certain parties for attending the meeting.

Campaign team chief Prasetyo Edi said the team had invited Sumarno to give information about voting requirements, especially regarding the distribution of C6 forms (voting invitations), which notify voters about where and when they should cast their votes.

During the election’s first round on Feb. 15, not all Jakarta residents received the letters, Edi said. “We want to know why some residents didn’t get the C6 forms."

Another campaign team member, Nusron Wahid, said the team wanted to hear an explanation from the KPU about campaign regulations, such as activities that could be considered as vote buying.

On Saturday, Ahok, Djarot and their campaign team members walked out of an event held by the KPU to officially announce the runoff. The pair said they were forced to leave the event because the commission did not start it on time.

“We saw the organizer was unprofessional. We really appreciated the KPU Jakarta's invitation so we came on time and skipped several events we could attend this evening," Djarot said on Saturday. (ebf)