Since May, the General Elections Commission (KPU) has been issuing a series of health protocol regulations aimed to prevent the polls from becoming a “superspreader” event.

Election organizers have been keen to keep a lid on each stage of the election process. This includes the campaign season, which ends this Saturday for all candidates after 71 days of campaigning that began on Sept. 26.

However, this year’s campaign events and activities have managed to draw public attention for all the wrong reasons. Candidates, their campaign teams and even their supporters have neglected the COVID-19 health protocols, with many still preferring physical rallies and “meet and greets” over online campaigns.

Experts and critics have said repeatedly that these health protocol violations only put their lives in danger, as well as the lives of their supporters, but these warnings have fallen on deaf ears.

 

What regulations apply to the 2020 campaigns?

On Sept. 23, a mere three days before the first campaign day, the election commission issued KPU Regulation (PKPU) No. 13/2020, which stipulates a list of health protocols that everyone involved in the elections must follow during the campaign season.

Included in the regulation are bans on campaign rallies and other crowd pullers like concerts, bazaars and cultural performances, with the KPU advising candidates to use online platforms instead to gain voters.

The regulation still allows candidates to hold in-person campaigns, but only when online campaigns are not possible. Such events must be held indoors under strict adherence to the health protocols, such as wearing masks and physical distancing, and attendance is restricted to no more than 50 people at one time.

The regulation also stipulates sanctions. Any candidates, campaign staff and their political backers who violate the campaign restrictions receive an initial warning from the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). The agency may decide to shut down a candidate’s campaign event, and it may also report the candidate to the KPU and recommend additional warnings, but only on repeat offenses.

Did the 2020 election regulation work?

The data appears to show that the KPU regulation and other guidelines, despite the sanctions for violators, have failed to keep the candidates, their campaign teams and supporters in line with the health protocols throughout the campaign season.

From Sept. 26 to Nov. 24, Bawaslu recorded 2,126 health protocol violations, including noncompliance with the rules on physical distancing and masks, as well as the restrictions on maximum attendees at in-person events.

The most notable occurrence was Sept. 26 in Medan, North Sumatera, at an event hosted by the supporters of mayoral candidate Bobby Nasution, President Joko Widodo’s son-in-law, where most, if not all, attendees ignored physical distancing, reported Kompas. Bawaslu said it had issued a warning against Bobby.

During the same period, the agency also dispersed 197 in-person campaigns after continued offenses by candidates, campaign staff and supporters, even after they had been warned.

But dispersing campaign crowds was no easy task, said the agency’s M. Afifuddin, and some Bawaslu officials were threatened while doing their jobs. Citing one case in Banyuwangi, East Java, he said an election supervisor experienced verbal abuse and intimidation from a group of attendees as she attempted to disperse a crowd that had gathered for an outdoor concert, allegedly sponsored by a candidate running for regent.

 

Why are violations continuing?

Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyati of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) has criticized the KPU regulation for its lenient sanctions against health protocol violators. It is this leniency that appears to be the main reason why candidates, campaign staff and supporters have continued to violate the health protocols and campaign restrictions.

The KPU initially wanted to introduce stricter punishments in the regulation, but it refrained from doing so because it determined that violating the health protocols was not criminally liable under the 2016 Regional Elections Law.

But Afifuddin of Bawaslu posited that candidates and their campaign teams probably still perceived in-person campaigns as the most effective means to draw voters, although he admitted that they also seemed to have no qualms about violating the health protocols at campaign events.

Bawaslu data shows that 9,189 in-person events and activities were held during the first 10 days of the campaign season from Sept. 26 to Oct. 5. This figure doubled to 18,025 events and activities during the sixth 10-day campaign period from Nov. 15 to Nov. 24.

“Candidates seem to favor in-person campaigns, even though we advised them to limit the frequency of such events,” Afifuddin said.

Some political parties have acknowledged that this was the case.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) campaign manager Bambang Wuryanto said that in-person rallies were the most effective way for candidates to develop their connection to voters.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party campaign secretary Kamhar Lakumani said the party had allowed its candidates to hold in-person rallies, since the public still associated such events with any election.