Election Participants Can Socialize As Long As They Don't Vote

BELITUNG - The General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of Belitung Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands, allowed participants of the 2024 General Election in the area to socialize themselves to the public as long as they did not submit an invitation to vote.

"If it is only limited to introducing oneself in the sense of putting up photos, names and symbols of the party and the names of election participants are still allowed," said Bawaslu Belitung Chairman, Rezeki Aris Munazar in Tanjung Pandan as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, September 13.

However, if in the socialization tool for the election participants it is found that there is an element inviting the public to choose then it violates the provisions.

"For example, there is an element inviting such as, let's choose me, let's vote for me, there is a language that invites and displays the vision and mission is not allowed because it has not yet entered the campaign period," he said.

According to Aris, before entering the 2024 election campaign period starting from November 28 to February 10, election participants are prohibited from displaying invitation messages to vote in installed socialization tools.

"Later, during the campaign period from November 28 to February 10, or there are around 75 days, socialization is allowed to invite them to vote through Campaign Performance Equipment (APK)," he said.

Selain itu, lanjut Aris, para peserta Pemilu 2024 juga diharapkan tidak memasang alat sosialisasi di tempat yang dilarang dalam Peraturan Daerah Kabupaten Belitung Nomor 1 Tahun 2018 tentang Penyelenggaraan Reklame.

He gave an example, the socialization tools for the election participants, for example, were installed in government offices, public facilities, education, health, and electricity poles.

"Therefore, it has been regulated in local regulations that these points are prohibited and not allowed to install socialization tools for election participants, so look at the local regulations where they are not allowed," he said.

Bawaslu will also conduct an inventory of the socialization tools for election participants who violate these provisions.

"If there is an element of invitation to vote in the socialization tool of the election participants, we will lower it later. Yesterday, the Belitung Satpol PP was brought under control because the socialization tool violated the provisions of regional regulations," he said.