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Jokowi, Prabowo prepare for large rallies
The respective camps of incumbent Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and challenger Prabowo Subianto have started gearing up for massive political rallies as the campaign season for the presidential election nears its final phase
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span>The respective camps of incumbent Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and challenger Prabowo Subianto have started gearing up for massive political rallies as the campaign season for the presidential election nears its final phase.
Starting on Sunday, the two presidential candidates and their running mates will enter a three-week period in which they are officially allowed to address the public in large-scale campaign events across the country.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has divided Indonesia into two campaign zones, each comprising 17 of the country’s 34 provinces.
The Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin and Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno tickets are set to take turns in holding campaign events in the two zones, switching between the zones every two days.
The zoning system means that the rival camps will not hold campaign trails in the same zone, General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Arief Budiman said.
“We have arranged [for the candidates] to campaign in different zones and schedules to anticipate [possible conflict between supporters of candidates],” Arief said on Thursday,
At a recent draw at the KPU the Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno pair got to start their campaign in Zone A and the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin pair got Zone B.
Zone A comprises Aceh, North and South Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Jakarta, West and Central Java, East Nusa Tenggara, West, South and Central Kalimantan, South and Central Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua.
Meanwhile, Zone B comprises South Sumatra Bengkulu, Lampung, Bangka Belitung, Riau Islands, Yogyakarta, East Java, Banten, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East and North Kalimantan, West and Southeast Sulawesi, Gorontalo, West Maluku and West Papua.
Political parties in each coalition will campaign together with their respective candidates. The campaign will last until April 13, before the cooling-off period prior to voting day on April 17.
Arsul Sani, the deputy chairman of Jokowi’s campaign team, said there would be events where Jokowi and Ma’ruf were slated to attend together and others in which the candidates would appear individually.
“There will be more events where [Jokowi and Ma’ruf] will campaign separately so that we can ensure the coverage of more regions,” Arsul said recently.
For instance, Ma’ruf might attend more events in regions where the majority were members of Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), of which the cleric is a senior figure, he said.
The team will also determine “priority” regions, such as Aceh and Papua, which are known as the start and end points of Indonesia’s [territory],” he said.
The team had yet to finalize which regions the pair would start with, but Arsul said they would end the campaign on April 13 in Jakarta. There will be at least 10 events that Jokowi and Ma’ruf will attend together, he added.
Meanwhile, Prabowo and the Democratic Party joint task force (Kogasma) commander Agus Harimurti held a meeting recently at Prabowo’s private residence to discuss about the campaign.
“Agus and I have traveled to many regions to gather the aspirations of the people,” Prabowo said after the meeting.
National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Zulkifli Hasan, who is also an official of the team, said Prabowo and Sandiaga would attend campaign events in a variety of places but both were likely to focus on Java.
“It’s impossible to reach all the hundreds of cities across the country within only 20 days. Our main focus is Java,” Zulkifli said.
