Poll watchdog crack down on electoral violators

Poll watchdog crack down on electoral violators

The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru/Makassar/Lampung

Election supervisory bodies in the provinces of Riau and South
Sulawesi have started to crack down on violators of rulings on
the campaign period, while legislative candidates found to have
committed fraud have also been reported to the police.

The Riau provincial Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu)
has reported three legislative candidates to the police for
violating campaign rules. Riau Panwaslu member Ahmad Jamaan said
candidates from the Riau and Riau Islands provinces had started
campaigning before the official kick-off in March.

He said the misdemeanors involved spreading brochures urging
people to vote for a particular candidate and using the media to
promote a candidate's platform. Two candidates were implicated in
these violations, he said, one of whom had also attached a
fraudulent high school certificate in his application.

Another candidate had also committed fraud, Ahmad said, by
including falsified IDs and forged signatures among the minimum
2,000 signatures of supporters required to validate each
candidacy.

"Several people mentioned on the list told us they had never
declared their support, nor had they given copies of their IDs,"
he said.

A clause under Article 138 of Elections Law No. 12/2003
stipulates that anyone violating the election schedule is subject
to punishment of 15 days to three months in prison or a fine of
between Rp 100,000 to RP 1 million.

Legislative candidates should be familiar with the law, Ahmad
said, but declined to name the suspect candidates. He added that
Article 141 of the law stipulates additional punishment equal to
a third of criminal sentences for those found to have committed
violations knowingly and deliberately.

In South Sulawesi, the Panwaslu of the Maros regency,
Makassar, alleged that aid disbursed by the Golkar Party for
victims of recent floods there was "disguised campaigning".

On Dec. 29, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung presented Rp 15
million to flood victims, while Golkar headquarters and two
Golkar candidates from Maros each contributed 15 tons of rice.
Two other Golkar candidates in Maros donated a total of Rp 10
million, and the party's Maros chapter presented one truckload of
instant noodles to regent Nadjamuddin Aminullah, who is chairman
of the Golkar chapter in Maros.

The regent could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Maros Panwaslu supervisory head Zainal Karta said the
committee was verifying all cases related to emergency aid.

In the floods late last month, at least three were killed and
3,000 made homeless, while almost 3,000 hectares of rice fields
and 4,500 hectares of fish and shrimp ponds were destroyed.

Head of South Sulawesi Panwaslu Aswanto said almost all
political parties had been involved in various violations, mainly
involving disguised campaigning.

In Bandar Lampung, several Golkar executives threatened on
Wednesday to resign in protest over the party's list of
legislative candidates, and demanded that the head of the Bandar
Lampung chapter, Riza Mirhadi, be fired.

Similar demands were aired by some 700 party cadres from East
Lampung, Central Lampung, Metro and Bandar Lampung, who protested
at Golkar's provincial headquarters in Lampung.

They demanded to meet Lampung party head Jajuli Isa, but were
told he was sick.