Local polls workers carry election supplies to be distributed to various districts in Banda Aceh, Aceh, Sunday (12/2). Twenty regencies/cities in Aceh province will be holding concurrent regional elections.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The technical preparations for the 2017 regional election are almost complete. The ability of the government and election organizers to prevent conflicts and fraud and to maintain voter safety at the polling booths will determine whether or not the local elections in 101 territories will be seen as a success.
Voter safety is of the utmost importance on voting day for the 2017 regional election, which will take place on Feb. 15. In Jakarta, for instance, despite the lack of reports of people being directly intimidated, some are feeling psychologically intimidated by calls not to vote for certain candidates for certain reasons.
“I know who I am going to vote for. All this intimidation is just empty talk. They will not dare do anything. If it gets physical, I’ll call the police,” said Putri, a mother of three residing in Kalideres, West Jakarta, on Sunday (12/2).
Intimidation was also reported by blank-vote volunteers for the Central Maluku regency election in Maluku. Fahri Asyathri, the initiator of the local blank-vote movement, said that intimidation involved a handful of people. “Some team members have received threats by text message,” he said.
Only one candidate pair is participating in the Central Maluku election, namely Abua Tuasikal and Marlatu Leleuri. They are the incumbent regent and vice regent for the 2012-2017 period.
In the preceding two periods, Central Maluku was led by Abua’s younger brother, Abdullah Tuasikal. When Abdullah was regent, his wife, Miranti Tuasikal, served in the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) from 2004 to 2009 and then the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2014. Now, Abdullah’s son, Amrullah Tuasikal, is a legislator.
Meanwhile, a number of citizens in Manokwari, West Papua, had yet to obtain voting invitations as of Sunday.
Yosias Manupapami, head of neighborhood unit III, Wosi sub-district, Manokwari, said that he had yet to distribute the voting invitations as he had not received the voter list (DPT) and had budget constraints. “We cannot distribute the voting invitations before receiving the voter list to prevent any mistakes in handing out the invitations,” he said.
In Wosi district, 3,539 voters have yet to receive invitations to vote. “We will accelerate the invitation distribution,” Wosi sub-district polling committee (PPS) head Yonas Sineri said.
Technical problems resolved
Despite these complaints and problems, General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Arief Budiman said that preparations for the 2017 regional elections had reached 95 percent. “We have conducted personnel training and the logistics are almost ready. Budgets for certain territories have yet to be distributed but, according to field reports, they still have enough money,” he said.
For the 2017 regional elections, the KPU has recruited 8,982 personnel for district election committees (PPK), 75,355 for sub-district polling committees and 738,782 people for polling station working committees (KPPS). They have all received training.
The total number of eligible voters, as specified by the local election commissions in the 101 territories that will hold elections, is 41,200,187 people. Recently, the KPU verified an additional 190,523 people who had not been included on the potential voter list (DP4) and who did not have electronic ID cards or letters from the local population and civil registry offices. Upon verification, 70,000 people were deemed eligible to vote.
People’s Voter Education Network (JPPR) national coordinator Masykurudin Hafidz said that there were only a few problems with technical preparations for the 2017 regional elections. Security, however, remained a potential issue. “Local authorities must anticipate security issues. Candidates must be able to restrain themselves. They can also monitor one another,” he said.
Money politics
Another issue that must be anticipated is money politics. Neighborhood unit 05 chief Akim, 54, said in Bintang district, Pangkal Pinang, Bangka Belitung that he had found a number of campaign teams dabbling in money politics ahead of the local election. “Of course people take the money, but no one can be sure if they’ll actually pick the candidate,” he said.
In anticipation of money politics and vote-buying by competitors, political parties are establishing teams.
The Golkar Party’s Java II regional campaign team head, Bambang Soesatyo, said that the party, which was championing 98 candidates in this year’s elections, had established teams of “stealth” witnesses who would keep watch for potential money politics by competitors.
He said that monitoring was increasing in the days ahead of the election, as Law No. 10/2016 on regional elections made it possible for candidates involved in structured, systematic and massive money politics to be disqualified.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) election witness body head Arif Wibowo said that the party, which was championing 90 candidates in this year’s elections, would deploy 260,000 witnesses across all polling booths. The witnesses had been recruited three months ago and had been trained since then. On Sunday, the party was conducting consolidation efforts to prepare witnesses for the Jakarta election at the party’s central board office in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
