Election Frauds in the Eyes of the Campaign Teams

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The three presidential campaign teams accuse one another of fraud ahead of the elections.

The general elections are still a month away, but allegations of violations and election fraud are rampant. Apart from the issue of money politics, there are allegations of the lack of neutrality of civil servants, members of the Indonesian Military, and National Police personnel, as well as the abuse of power to win one of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates: Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar (No. 01), Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka (02) and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud Md. (03).

The campaign teams of all three pairs claim to have found allegations of violations and election fraud by their rival camps. Sudirman Said, Deputy Chair of the Anies-Muhaimin campaign team, mentioned the existence of intimidation against their candidate. The forms of intimidation vary, from intimidation against campaign organizers in the regions, and attempts to cancel scheduled events, to election officials showing bias towards candidates supported by those in power.

However, Sudirman said, the primary problem in the coming elections is the use of power to win the campaign of pair number 02. “A huge turning point that we’ve been discussing is about the highest leader of the country who should set an example in managing the state, instead shows the opposite, changing laws for personal and family interests,” he told Tempo on January 10.

Deputy for Legal Affairs of the National Campaign Team for Ganjar-Mahfud, Todung Mulya Lubis, considers two significant issues in this election. First, the lack of neutrality of state apparatuses manifested in village heads and village officials directing their residents to vote for candidate number 02. Second, money politics, which can take the form of cash payments or distribution of basic food packages.

According to Mulya, in addition to the alleged lack of neutrality that occurred in many places, there are indications of election organizers lacking neutrality. “As we found many such cases, we can say that it is systematic and massive,” Mulya said to Tempo in two separate interview sessions on January 8 and 12.

Ridwan Kamil, Chairman of the West Java Regional Campaign Team for Prabowo-Gibran, also noted allegations of lack of neutrality or abuse of authority by other camps. He mentioned reports of staff from ministries coming to villages to provide assistance but with the condition of supporting specific candidate pairs.

Regarding President Joko Widodo’s support for Gibran, Ridwan said it was normal for a parent to support a child as long as it does not involve abusing his authority. He suggested that if there are findings like that, they should be reported to the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu). “Just report it to the Bawaslu,” he said to Tempo on January 16.

Sudirman Said, Deputy Chair, Anies-Muhaimin Campaign Team:

Jokowi openly shows his bias

What patterns of election violations did your team find?

It’s interesting to see an article with a huge title Government Officials Most Likely to Commit Fraud that described various incidents including a meeting between the president and a party leader, as well as the election process of regional heads without clear procedures and criteria. But the public has also begun to see that the tendency towards non-objectivity or partiality is increasingly visible by the day.

But a huge turning point that we’ve been discussing is the highest leader of the country, who should set an example in governing, instead showing the opposite, changing laws for personal and family interests. That is a ‘red flag’ indicating that something very serious is happening. So, whatever has happened lately is just an effect or a result of that significant event.

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