The second round of the Jakarta Gubernatorial Election has been confirmed to take place on April 19, 2017. The pair of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot
Saiful Hidayat will again take campaign leave.
The Jakarta chapter of the General Election Commission (KPU) has set the second-round election campaign to take place from March 7 to April 15, 2017. Two pairs of candidates will compete, namely the pairs of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno.
Due to the second-round campaign activities, the Jakarta City Administration, which has been struck by various problems, will again be led by an acting chairman. If there is no change in the design of the law, an incumbent Jakarta governor will be on leave for six months if the election is held in two rounds. In the future, such a rule may need reviewing so that the energy of the nation is not long exhausted for political affairs.
The format of the second round of the campaign is not yet clear. The law does not regulate the second-round campaign model, which in the previous regional elections has been touted as a phase for the sharpening of candidates’ vision and mission. The KPU will use its discretion to handle the second-round campaigns. We believe the format of the second-round campaign period – if it indeed still needs to be carried out – has to be more productive and further sharpen the vision and mission of the candidates.
We are grateful that the first round of regional elections in Jakarta ran well. Despite the high rate of political participation of about 77 percent, the regional elections in Jakarta were marred by many problems. The General Election Supervisory Agency recorded violations in at least 60 polling stations in Jakarta. There were complaints among residents about people not being able to vote, unprofessional election organizers, a lack of ballot papers, voters who were not included in the voters\' lists, and letters that were allegedly not used properly.
The right to vote is the constitutional right of a citizen. The right to vote is guaranteed by the constitution. Therefore, the right to vote should be inhibited by administrative affairs. To prevent similar events from happening again, we encourage the organizers of the elections to settle problems of the fixed voters lists and ensure that all citizens eligible to vote use their voting right.
The KPU has to improve election organization. The organizers of the elections must also maintain independence, neutrality, and professionalism in carrying out the elections. The behavior of KPU members is very easily monitored by the community in an open political system as it is today. The unprofessionalism of the elections organizers at the lower level will determine the quality of the overall election implementation.