Governor will pay for campaign victims

MEDAN, North Sumatra: T. Rizal Nurdin, the governor of North Sumatra, promised on Thursday that all victims of violence or accidents during the election campaign in North Sumatra province would receive free medical treatment.

"It has become the responsibility of the government," he said.

The first day of campaigning in Medan claimed its first victim. Andre Arial, 35, was electrocuted and died as he was trying to hang a banner on a live electric wire for Dimardi Abbas, a DPD candidate. -- JP