Violations mar first day of campaigning

ID Nugroho , The Jakarta Post , Surabaya, East Java | Mon, 07/07/2008 10:31 AM | The Archipelago

Campaigning for the East Java gubernatorial election kicked off on Sunday, and has been marred by numerous campaign violations, including lack of transparency, overlapping campaign zones and undisclosed donations.

Sri Sugeng Prijatmoko, head of the provincial General Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), blamed the violations on the regional General Elections Commission (KPUD).

He said the KPUD had botched up campaign regulations such that certain mandates of the general election regulations could not be fully implemented.

One example, he said, was the overlap in campaigning in Zone A in Tulungagung by rival candidates Kofifah Indar Parawansa, backed by the United Development Party, and Soenarjo, backed by the Golkar Party.

Soenarjo and his running mate Ali Maschan Moesa were scheduled to campaign in Zone B in Tuban on Sunday, but ended up campaigning in Zone A, which had been allocated to Kofifah and his running mate Mudjiono.

The three other candidates, however, managed to hold their campaign activities in their respective areas. The National Awakening Party's Achmady and his running mate Soehartono met with mudflow victims in Zone E in Sidoarjo.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's Sutjipto and his running mate Ridwan Hisjam campaigned in Zone C in Banyuwangi, while the National Mandate Party's Sukarwo and his running mate Syaifullah Yusuf campaigned in Zone D in Pamekasan, Madura.

Sri Sugeng said Soenarjo violated existing regulations, which bound candidates to their respective zones to prevent clashes among rival supporters.

"Soenarjo and Ali Maschan were clearly outside their allocated zone," Sri Sugeng said.

In addition to this overlap, Panwaslu also questioned the absence of disclosure of vision and mission at a plenary session at the provincial legislature.

"This is one of the mandates of the general elections regulations and government regulations, but even the KPUD flaunts it. Why?" he said.

He added the third violation was the lack of disclosure by the candidates on their campaign donations, which they were supposed to submit two days before campaigning began.

"It's to allow us to track where campaign funds come from, to prevent any irregularities," he said.

On the overlapping campaigns, KPUD chairman Arief Budiman said his commission tolerated any activities which did not involve large number of supporters. He said gatherings with limited attendance were permissible.

With regard to the absence of the disclosure of vision and mission, he explained it was because the legislature did not normally meet on Sundays.

"We respect the councilors. The disclosure will be made on Monday," he said.

However, he refused to comment on the issue of campaign donations.