Impact Of Zulhas Report, Bawaslu Reminds Politicians Not To Campaign Prematurely

JAKARTA - The Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) has appealed to politicians and state officials who are members of political parties not to campaign outside the schedule for the 2024 Simultaneous Elections.

Bawaslu emphasized that, based on PKPU 3/2022 regarding the Stages and Schedule for the 2024 Election, political campaigns could only be conducted from November 28, 2023 to February 10, 2024.

"Election participants can only campaign during the 75-day period," said RI Bawaslu member Lolly Suhenty in a statement, Thursday, July 21.

Lolly said that the alleged violation of the campaign outside the schedule specified in the regulation could not be followed up by Bawaslu.

"There are no definitive participants in the 2024 election, which has consequences for not being able to follow up on alleged election violations," he explained.

For example, Lolly continued, there was a report on a case of alleged campaign violations in the distribution of cooking oil (migor) by the General Chairperson of PAN and the Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan in Lampung, last July 9.

The alleged violation was reported by Lingkar Madani (Lima) Indonesia, and the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) to the Integrated Law Enforcement Center (Gakkumdu) Bawaslu on Jalan MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, July 19.

However, Bawaslu cannot process reports from these institutions because they do not meet material requirements. In addition, the authority of Bawaslu in taking action cannot be carried out outside the stages that have been prepared by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Therefore, said Lolly, Bawaslu can only take preventive measures. One of them conveyed an appeal to related parties so that cases like Zulhas's would not be repeated in the future.

"That's to avoid unnecessary noise during the election stage," said Lolly.