Candidates For Regional Heads Who Violate Health Protocols May Be Subject To Criminal Charges

JAKARTA - The number of health protocol violations committed by the 2020 Regional Head Election Candidates (Bapaslon) has made election organizers act decisively to curb.

Member of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Fritz Edward Siregar said there would be sanctions imposed on election participants who violated the health protocol.

Sanctions for violating health protocols are regulated in KPU Regulation Number 6 of 2020 and Bawaslu Regulation Number 4 of 2020. The sanctions in both rules are administrative in nature. However, there is the potential for heavier sanctions in the form of criminal threats.

"In addition to the rules regarding regional elections, there is Law Number 4 of 1984 concerning Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Law Number 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine which has criminal implications," said Fritz at the Ministry of Home Affairs office, Central Jakarta, Monday, September 7.

The imposition of this sanction, said Fritz, reflects on the 243 prospective pairs of candidates (bapaslon) who violated the COVID-19 prevention protocol when registering as participants in the 2020 Pilkada.

"Regarding this, Bawaslu will give administrative violations related to health protocol violations that have occurred," said Fritz.

However, Fritz said that his party would conduct a study of each violation committed by the 2020 Pilkada chaplain to find elements of heavier violations that could potentially be criminalized.

"Bawaslu will carry out tracing and clarification. If the results of the clarification are found to be elements of a violation, then Bawaslu will forward the allegation to the police for action," he said.