Hidayat-Didik Pairing Is Top Violator of Jakarta Campaign Rule: Watchdog

Ronna Nirmala

The Jakarta office of the Elections Supervisory Commission on Friday named gubernatorial candidate Hidayat Nurwahid and his running mate Didik J. Rachbini as the top violators of a rule on campaign paraphernalia.

The commission, known as Panwaslu Jakarta, said it found at least 5,458 campaign items, including banners, posters and stickers, promoting the pair since June 14. A campaign rule stipulates that all Jakarta governor candidates are allowed to post such items only during the official campaign period from June 24 to July 7.

A total of six tickets have registered for the upcoming Jakarta gubernatorial election on July 11.

“The [5,458] figure hasn’t covered all. Many still report the finding of banners and stickers [of the Hidayat-Didik pair], for example those attached inside public minivans,” Panwaslu Jakarta chairman Ramdansyah said in Jakarta on Friday.

He added that the Alex Noerdin-Nono Sampono pairing was the second biggest violator of the restriction, as officers found 3,642 campaign items promoting them.

“We found most of the campaign items of this pair in the North Thousand Islands [subdistrict], totaling 1,135 items.”

Ramdansyah added that incumbent Fauzi Bowo and his running mate Nachrowi Ramli came in third with 2,667 campaign items, followed by the Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Basuka Tjahja Purnama with 749 items.

“Two at the bottom are independent pairs Faisal Basri-Biem Benyamin with 691 items and Hendardji [Soepandji]-Riza [Patria] with 432 items,” Ramdansyah said.

BeritaSatu, JG