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Candidates may face campaign bans

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)

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Jakarta

Sat, October 24, 2020 Published on Oct. 23, 2020 Published on 2020-10-23T21:36:00+07:00

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Three candidate pairs competing in the upcoming Bandung regency election take the stage after drawing the ballot number in Soreang, Bandung regency, West Java on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020.

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andidates in the upcoming regional elections found to be violating COVID-19 health protocols during their campaigns will be subject to various sanctions, including three-day bans on holding campaign events, the West Java Elections Supervisory Agency has warned.

The agency’s supervision division coordinator, Zaki Hilmi, said the agency had found 119 health protocol violations during campaign activities in eight regions in the province in which elections will be held in December.

“We have issued warning letters,” Zaki said on Friday, as quoted by kompas.com.

He said the agency was weighing a prohibition on holding campaign events for three days for similar violations, as stipulated in General Elections Commission (KPU) Regulation No. 13/2020 on regional elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, issued in late September.

Of the eight regions in West Java holding the elections, Bandung regency has had the most violations with 35, according to Zaki.

“The most frequent types of violations were the number of [attendees] exceeding 50, non-wearing of masks and the involvement of elderly and minors,” he said.

Zaki congratulated those of the 25 candidate pairs in West Java who had implemented proper health protocols following the agency’s advice.