Parties fail to notify police of rallies

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: With the election campaign beginning on Thursday, few political parties have yet to notify the police here where and when they will be campaigning.

As of Wednesday, only 16 political parties had notified the Mataram mayoralty police of the campaign schedules, and only two political parties had notified the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) provincial police.

Adj. Comr. Tribudi Pangastuti, spokeswoman for the NTB police, said she regretted that most political parties had not provided the police with information on their campaign schedules.

She said the police had the authority to ban parties from campaigning if they failed to provide notification to the police.

"But we will not immediately ban them or break up their rallies. We will ask them first why they did not notify the police prior to the campaign period. If they disrupt public order during the campaign, we will certainly prohibit them from campaigning," she said. -- JP