TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Golkar Party chairman Airlangga Hartarto believed that the recently viral Dirty Vote movie constitutes a form of black campaign intended to besmirch the reputation of presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka. He claimed that this year’s election has been running smoothly.

“That's a black film. A black campaign. There is no need to comment on it. The black film [was released] during the current cooling-off days,” said Airlangga, who also serves as the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday, February 12.

Dirty Vote is a documentary movie directed by Dandhy Laksono and released on YouTube on Sunday, February 11. It features three constitutional law experts, Bivitri Susanti, Feri Amsari, and Zainal Arifin Mochtar, who expose instances of alleged systematic electoral fraud in the government of President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi.

The film alleges that there were several fraudulent activities, including the operation to win certain candidate pairs, such as the President's appointment of acting regional heads, the distribution of social assistance, and the Constitutional Court's ruling that paved the way for Jokowi’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, to participate in the 2024 presidential election.

Airlangga was tight-lipped when asked if Prabowo-Gibran was disturbed by the movie. He stressed that what’s most important at the moment is for citizens to exercise their voting rights.

“Don’t aggravate things. We are the largest democracy after the United States and India. So, let's just push for elections according to the existing mechanism,” Airlangga said.

The 2024 general elections, including the legislative and presidential polls, will be held on February 14. Three pairs of presidential and vice presidential hopefuls are running in the race. They are Anies Baswedan - Muhaimin Iskandar (1), Prabowo Subianto - Gibran Rakabuming (2), and Ganjar Pranowo - Mahfud Md (3).

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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