Each party to get three turns in campaigning
JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the Jakarta Provincial Elections Committee (PPD I) Djafar Badjeber announced on Friday that campaign activities in the city for the June 7 general election were scheduled to start on May 19.
He said the opening date would be marked by a joint parade of all the 48 parties' flags from Monas Square and the official hoisting of the flags at 108 spots around the city.
A total of 15 days will be allocated for campaign activities starting on May 20, he said. The period is divided into three rounds, with nine to 10 parties designated to campaign on each day.
"It means that each party will be given three campaign opportunities: first at the district level from May 20 to May 24, second at the mayoralty level from May 25 to May 29 and the final at the provincial level from May 31 to June 4," he said.
"There won't be campaign activities on May 30 as we should respect Buddha's Day of Enlightenment, which falls on the day."
He added that PPD I was still finalizing the roster of which parties would campaign on the designated days.
He explained that each party was free to decide on the form of its campaigning, but "the only forbidden one is the street rally".
The schedule has been prepared in line with the regulation of the General Elections Commission for the campaign period from May 19 to June 4.
Djafar said that on June 5 all parties would be asked to remove all attributes -- including flags, stickers and posters -- from public places.
He also said PPD I would request that major parties not campaign on the same day to minimize the possibility of clashes among their supporters.
Parties scheduled to campaign on the same day would be expected to make an agreement among themselves on the sites and schedule, he said.
Djafar admitted it would be difficult to guarantee there would be no clashes during the campaign period because encounters between different parties' supporters would be unavoidable.
"That's why we have repeatedly urged each political party to be responsible for their supporters. We have thought about penalizing parties whose supporters are involved in clashes.
"There is a possibility that a party with delinquent supporters will be disqualified from holding campaign activities in the next round," he said.
PPD I data showed on Thursday that 4.63 million Jakartans, or 82.76 percent of total eligible voters, had registered for the polls.
PPD I official Mulyono told The Jakarta Post that the figure was final because registration was closed on April 18. However, another registration period will be open from April 30 to May 4.
Of the 4.63 million registrants, 555,245 are in Central Jakarta (77 percent of those eligible in the mayoralty); 755,901 in North Jakarta (82.64 percent); 993,654 in West Jakarta (89.45 percent); 1.3 million registrants in East Jakarta (80.01 percent) and 1.03 million in South Jakarta (83.82 percent). (ind)
Tentative schedule of campaign activities in Jakarta
Date Activities
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May 19 : Joint parade of all parties' flags from Monas
Square and official hoisting of parties' flags
at 108 spots.
May 20 - May 24 : Campaign period (Round 1) at district level.
Street rallies are strictly prohibited. The
first three days will each be designated for 10
parties, with the next two days earmarked for
nine parties respectively.
May 25 - May 29 : Campaign period (Round 2) at mayoralty level.
Rules and allocation of days are the same.
May 30 : Public holiday for Buddha's Day of
Enlightenment. Campaign activities prohibited.
May 31 - June 4 : Campaign time (Final round) at mayoralty level.
Rules and allocation of days remain the same.
June 5 : Removal of parties' flags, stickers, posters,
etc. from public places.
June 6 : Cooling-down day
June 7 : Voting day
Source: Jakarta Provincial Elections Committee