Magelang Regency Panwaslu Chairman Afifudin warned the campaign team of six regent and deputy regent pairs not to commit campaign violations, such as carrying out money politics.
According to Affifudin, Panwaslu will not hesitate to take legal action. “If there are candidate pairs who are proven to have committed money politics, their participation may be disqualified,” Afiffudin said at the Educative, Participatory and Ethical Democracy Workshop Towards Quality Pilbup held by PATTIRO Magelang, yesterday.
It was stated that in the last Governor Election, Panwaslu received a lot of pressure and threats when bringing cases of campaign violations to court. However, after the court ruled that the perpetrators were guilty, Panwaslu actually received a lot of appreciation for this success.
“Even though there were threats, it turned out that there were more people who defended and supported us. We believe that if violations are not handled it will set a bad precedent. For this reason, please report campaign violations,” he stressed.
Panwaslu, said Afiffudin, promised to keep the reporter’s identity secret and provide protection. However, the reporter must be someone who saw or heard the incident directly, not based on the information of other parties.
Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Political Observer Arie Sujito predicts that the competition for the six candidate pairs in the Pilbup for Magelang Regency will be tight. So far the strength of the six candidate pairs is relatively the same.
This is because the Pilbup is a test cast for political parties in the face of the 2014 Legislative Election. In this condition, the role of the mass media and NGOs is considered important in promoting quality Pilkada.
“The question is whether voters have changed or not? The people must be challenged to choose the best. I see there is a shift in voters. This will make the competition tough,” said Arie Sujito.
PATTIRO Magelang Advocacy and Public Policy Coordinator Ahmad Abdul Basyid explained that this workshop was held to encourage the neutrality of civil servants, village officials and election organizers during the Pilbup.
Pattiro suspected that there were indications of campaign violations that could lead to conflict within the community. “Election organizers must also be neutral. There should be no horizontal conflict. We ask the KPU to also monitor the campaign funds of the regent candidates,” said Ahmad Abdul Basyid. (quoted from suaramerdeka.com)
