Abstention is sin, PKB cleric says

MAGELANG, Central Java: Influential Muslim cleric Abdurrahman Chudlori of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said on Tuesday party supporters must not abstain from voting in the July 5 presidential election.

"All PKB members must use their voting right. If they do not, it is a sin because it means they are not taking responsibility for governing the state," he told some 3,000 people attending a religious gathering organized by the PKB's Women Movement in the Central Java town of Magelang.

Chudlori was speaking in his capacity as the PKB's patron board chairman in Central Java.

He advised members of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which founded the PKB in 1999, to abide by the party's decision to support the pairing of Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid in the election.

However, NU members are free to decide which candidate they will vote for, Chudlori stressed. --Antara