Protest mars first day of Depok election campaigns

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Depok mayoral election campaign period started on Thursday, with the five teams of candidates delivering their speeches at the plenary session of the Depok municipal council, and the signing of a joint declaration for a peaceful election.

The kick-off for the two-week campaign period was marked with a protest from the Democratic Party at the council over the validity of the candidates, who they said had yet to declare their personal wealth to the public.

"The declaration of wealth is required by Government Regulation No 17/2005 on the election of regional leaders. If the election process continues, we fear there will be legal problem in the future," faction chairman Rintisyanto told the session.

Several other councillors agreed with Rintisyanto, but they stressed that there was still time for the candidates to meet the requirement by election day on June 26.

The chairman of the Depok General Elections Commission (KPU Depok) Zulfadli said that all candidates had submitted wealth declarations and the documents were being assessed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Rintisyanto, however, insisted all candidates should declare their wealth without waiting for the KPK's approval, arguing that such approval was not required in the regulations.

Ignoring the protest, other councillors agreed with the council speaker to continue the session, with candidates presenting their political vision.

Each team was given 15 minutes for the presentation.

Unfortunately, there was no question and answer session between the candidates and councillors.

Meanwhile, colorful banners, ballyhoos, posters, and leaflets have begun to decorate the city since early Thursday.

However, only campaign materials for current mayor Badrul Kamal and running mate Syihabuddin Ahmad and the team of former forestry minister Nur Mahmudi Ismail and Yuyun Wirasaputra were seen in the municipality.

These two teams, according to a recent telephone poll carried out by the University of Indonesia's Political Science Research Center, will likely garner most of the vote.

The other three teams are Yus Suswandi-Soetati Dipowongso, Harun Heryana-Farkhan A.R., and Abdul Wahab Abidin-Ilham Wijaya.

Badrul-Syihabuddin were nominated by Golkar and the National Awakening Party (PKB), while Nur Mahmudi-Yuyun were named by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which dominates the municipality.

Acting Depok mayor Warma Sutarman demanded that all candidates and their campaign teams control their respective supporters to prevent any incidents during the campaign period that will take place until June 22.

"We all hope we will create a history in organizing the first direct mayoral election without any violence," said the mayor after signing the peaceful campaign declaration in KPU Depok office.

Nearly 900,000 eligible voters are expected to exercise their right to vote at some 2,000 polling stations across the town.