Pilkada Campaign Begins, Bawaslu Records 8 Health Protocol Violations

JAKARTA - Member of the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Mochammad Afifuddin said there were eight health protocol violations in the implementation of the first day of the 2020 simultaneous regional election campaign on Saturday, September 26.

"The violations occurred in West Tanjung Jabung, Sungai Penuh, Bandung, Purbalingga, Mojokerto, Dompu, Kaimana and Medan," Afif told reporters, Monday, September 28.

According to Afif, the breach of protocol in Tanjung Jabung Barat and Sungai was full of campaign teams committed by the candidate pairs. Then, there was the declaration of the pair of candidates by mass gathering in Purbalingga.

Then, in Bandung and Dompu, there were pairs of candidates who held face-to-face meetings beyond the specified capacity, namely over 50 people.

Furthermore, in Kaimana there was socialization of candidate pairs who did not apply health protocols and in Medan there were pairs of candidates attending volunteer activities.

"The sanctions, we do a written warning to violators of the health protocol," said Afif.

In the implementation of the election campaign on the first day, there were 59 districts / cities where pairs of candidates had campaigned. Of the 59 districts / cities, there are 20 districts / cities campaigning but not with a notification receipt (STTP).

In addition, regency / municipal Bawaslu conducted control by lowering the props that violated as many as 82,198 props in 46 districts / cities.

For information, the General Election Commission issued KPU Regulation (PKPU) Number 13 of 2020 as an amendment to PKPU Number 6 of 2020 regarding the implementation of regional elections during a pandemic.

In Article 58 of this PKPU, political parties, pairs of candidates and campaign teams prioritize limited campaign methods provided they are inside the building and limit the number of participants to a maximum of 50 people.

Meanwhile Article 63 states that other activities that do not violate the campaign ban and the provisions of laws and regulations are carried out in the form of a campaign through social media and online media.

Then, there is a confirmation of the prohibition on music concert campaigns and the like in the addition of Article 88C in PKPU Number 13 of 2020.

"Political parties, coalitions of political parties, candidate pairs, campaign teams are prohibited from carrying out campaigns for rallies, performing arts, harvesting, music concerts, leisure walks, casual bicycles, competitions, bazaars, blood donations, and political party birthdays. "wrote the PKPU.

The lightest sanction that can be imposed for violators of health protocols in PKPU 13/2020 is a written warning from Bawaslu.

In addition, there are other sanctions in the form of terminating and forcibly dissolving the campaign at the place where the violation occurred if it does not immediately disband within one hour of being warned.

The heaviest sanction is the prohibition of conducting campaign methods that are violated for 3 days based on the recommendation of the provincial Bawaslu or district / city Bawaslu.