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The Megawati Sukarnoputri-Prabowo Subianto campaign team on Monday formed another volunteer group that will help monitor polling stations around the country in the July 8 presidential election, to prevent manipulation by rival groups.

The group, Pencak Silat Volunteers of Indonesia, was launched in East Jakarta, with hundreds of members of the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (IPSI) in attendance.

Muchdi Purwoprandjono, the deputy chairman of Prabowo’s Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra), said that all members of the team of volunteers needed to guard voting stations.

“Everyone must become a witness to determine whether manipulation occurs,” Muchdi told online portal Detik.com. “We must make sure that there is no manipulation in the election.”

The Megawati-Prabowo campaign team has already formed similar volunteer groups to monitor the elections, including Baitul Muslimin Indonesia, a collective of students from traditional Muslim boarding schools, and the Red and White People’s Economy Movement, which is made up of market vendors and traders.

The campaign team also said it had secured support from members of the Regional Representative Councils (DPD) in Sumatra, Java and the Nusa Tenggara islands.

Muspani, a DPD member from Bengkulu province, said on Sunday that the support agreement was signed after a closed meeting at Megawati’s residence on Jalan Teuku Umar in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

“Sixteen members of the DPD pledged to support the pair, who we think are the right candidates to bring change,” Muspani said, adding that the DPD members were united under the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Team.

DPD members at the meeting included Lundu Panjaitan and Yopie S Batubara from North Sumatra, Intsiawati Ayus from Riau, Biem Benyamin from Jakarta and Lalu Muhyi AB and Harun Al Rasyid from West Nusa Tenggara, Muspani said.

He said that all members of the team vowed to persuade voters that Megawati and Prabowo were the best pair of candidates for the presidency and vice presidency.

“Each DPD member oversees more than 40,000 voters,” Muspani said. “This will be very significant in helping them win.”

However, DPD member Intsiawati said that the agreement only applied to each individual in a private capacity, and not to the DPD as a state institution.

“This is a private vote — it’s about me as a DPD member,” Intsiawati said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) on Sunday dispatched teams to 33 provinces around the country to push local campaign teams to be more active in mobilizing voters behind incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his vice presidential running mate, Boediono.

PKPI is one of 24 parties in a coalition with Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party.