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Bawaslu, KPU, KPI to evaluate televised speeches by Jokowi, Prabowo
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A mural shows 2019 presidential rivals Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto. (JP/Maksum Nur Fauzan)
T
he Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and the General Elections Commission (KPU) are set to coordinate with the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) to evaluate potential violations of election regulations over televised speeches by the two competing presidential candidates.
The three institutions are set to talk about mechanisms to look for potential campaign violations, in the context of both administrative and criminal law, during a meeting slated for Wednesday.
“We will coordinate with the KPI because these are related to television broadcasting,” Bawaslu commissioner Fritz Edward Siregar said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.
On Sunday, several television networks broadcast a kind of televised town hall meeting by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo -- during which the incumbent not only answered questions from the audience, but also gave a speech on the President’s vision and mission for the next five years.
On the following day, presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and running mate Sandiaga Uno held their first town hall meeting, where the former delivered a speech laying out their campaign platform before their supporters. The event was also televised by several television networks.
Fritz said a joint media supervisory team comprising Bawaslu, the KPU, the KPI and the Press Council had seven days to look for potential violations. If the team found any violation, the supervisory agency could sanction the candidate pair in question, their campaign teams or the television stations.
The sanctions range from a Bawaslu warning to a ban from campaigning on mass media. Fritz said there would not be a cancelation of any candidacy as there were no regulations stipulating such a sanction.
KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan previously said presidential candidates were allowed to have political ads on mass media during the last three weeks of the campaign period, citing a 2018 KPU regulation.
The KPU, however, had yet to decide whether Jokowi’s and Prabowo’s televised speeches constituted campaign ads or not.
As part of an effort to maintain media neutrality in anticipation of the presidential and legislative elections, particularly after media moguls entered the campaign scene, election organizers and related institutions like the KPI, have agreed to limit TV campaigns. (kuk/ipa)
