Infractions decline in third week of presidential campaign

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta

The General Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) recorded a decline in the number of violations committed by the candidates in the third week of the month-long presidential campaign.

However, Panwaslu predicted that breaches of campaign regulations would increase in the final week, when the candidates would be desperate to win support from prospective voters ahead of the July 5 presidential election.

The official supervisory committee said on Wednesday it recorded 64 offenses combined, consisting of 54 administrative and 10 criminal, declining from 72 the week before.

Panwaslu said the inclusion of civil servants in the campaigning was the most common criminal infraction that had taken place in the third week of campaigning.

"However, we've had difficulties finding out who induced the officials to take part in the presidential campaign," Panwaslu member Didik Supriyanto announced during a press briefing here.

Law No. 23/2003 on presidential elections bans state officials from campaigning without leave but it does not say whether their presence at a rally is a violation.

The law stipulates that the parties who asked or ordered the state officials to be involved in campaigning could be prosecuted while the bureaucrats could face administrative penalties.

At the top of the list of violators were the National Mandate Party's (PAN) Amien Rais and Siswono Yudhohusodo with 19 offenses consisting of five administrative and four criminal infractions, an increase from 11 violations the week before.

The Rais team has also been discovered by Panwaslu committing infractions ranging from campaigning outside the designated schedule to including civil servants in their rallies.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and her team had the second largest number of offenses with 17, comprising 15 administrative and two criminal infractions -- a decline from 25 the week before.

The Golkar Party's candidate Wiranto along with his running mate Solahuddin Wahid were third with 13 infractions.

Presidential frontrunner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono along with his running mate Yusuf Kalla and the pairing of the United Development Party's (PPP) Hamzah Haz and Agum Gumelar came in fourth and fifth with nine and six infractions, respectively.

Panwaslu's records show that most of the violations took place in Jakarta with 12 violations, followed by Central Java where it saw 10 offenses and West Java with seven cases.

Didik said that in the third week of campaigning, Panwaslu received reports from the public about alleged vote-buying that took place during and outside the designated period. "However, in the latter case, we would find difficulties in bringing such an offense to the court," he said.

Since the presidential campaign started on June 1, Panwaslu has registered a total of 190 offenses. The Megawati-Hasyim ticket has been the top violator with 56.