Party goes on line

JAKARTA: Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) member Didik Supriyanto said over the weekend that a political party had benefited from the absence of regulations on campaigning on the Internet.

Didik, an editor at detikcom, said that the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) had put banner ads on the detikcom news portal in the absence of any regulation against it.

"There is no regulation on Internet campaigning, so we cannot take action," Didik said at a discussion organized by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) here on Saturday.

Article 73 of the Election Law says that printed and electronic media is to give equal space and time to political parties for campaigning purposes.

Didik disclosed that the PDS was ready to drop the banner ads should the KPU object to them.

According to the KPU, only radio and television stations are considered electronic media. - JP

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