Parties gears up for election campaign opener<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Top figures of the three political parties will
\nbegin campaigning in different areas throughout the country
\nSunday, with Golkar parading its trump cards.<\/p>\n
Golkar chairman Harmoko is due to deliver a speech in Lebak, a
\nsmall town in West Java about 100 kilometers west of here.<\/p>\n
A thousand miles away in Medan, North Sumatra, chairman of the
\nUnited Development Party (PPP) Ismail Hasan Metareum will take to
\nthe stage to mark the opening of the party's election campaign.<\/p>\n
The conflict-ridden Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) will
\nbegin its campaign with a public rally in Pontianak, West
\nKalimantan, featuring its chairman Soerjadi.<\/p>\n
An election campaign itinerary will be announced today.<\/p>\n
The nationwide campaign period will end on May 23, giving
\nGolkar, the PPP and the PDI 27 days to offer their respective
\nprograms.<\/p>\n
Members of the Golkar board of patrons, who are also cabinet
\nministers, are expected to accompany Harmoko in opening the
\ncampaign.<\/p>\n
Wardiman Djojonegoro, currently Minister of Education and
\nCulture, is set to team up with the State Minister of Development
\nPlanning Ginandjar Kartasasmita.<\/p>\n
Fellow cabinet ministers, the Coordinating Minister for
\nProduction and Distribution Hartarto and Minister of Youth
\nAffairs and Sports Hayono Isman, will make a trip to Central
\nJava.<\/p>\n
The Minister of Agrarian Affairs Sony Harsono will speak in
\nYogyakarta, the Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications
\nJoop Ave will visit Maluku while the minister of administrative
\nreforms will tour the country's easternmost province Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Former vice president and Golkar chairman Sudharmono and
\nfellow senior Golkar figure Suhardiman will support Hartarto in
\nCentral Java.<\/p>\n
Harmoko, who has made an across-the-archipelago trip during
\nfasting month a tradition since he took office in 1983, will fly
\nto Lhokseumawe, Aceh on Monday.<\/p>\n
The General Election Institute has introduced the zoning
\nsystem in this year's election, the seventh held since
\nindependence. Each political party is obliged to conduct its
\ncampaign in two specially designated regions each day.<\/p>\n
This allows a political group to hold two campaigns in
\ndifferent towns on the same day.<\/p>\n
The regulation divides the country into six campaign regions:
\nregion I is for provinces in Sumatra; region II for provinces in
\nJava; region III for provinces in Bali, West and East Nusa
\nTenggara and East Timor; region IV for provinces in Kalimantan;
\nregion V for provinces in Sulawesi; and region VI for the
\nprovinces of Maluku and Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
The zoning aims to prevent supporters of one political group
\nfrom encountering another, thereby reducing the potential for
\nconflict.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the ousted chief of PDI, Megawati Soekarnoputri,
\nsaid in a statement yesterday that her camp will not participate
\nin any election campaign activities.<\/p>\n
She said her camp had \"in a responsible manner\" followed all
\npreparatory stages of general elections, including naming its
\nlegislature candidates, which the election organizer rejected.<\/p>\n
\"We all have to keep fighting together for a democratic and
\nconstitutional elections,\" she said. (amd)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/parties-gears-up-for-election-campaign-opener-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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