Mahfud MD: There Are 59 Regional Head Candidates Affected By COVID-19

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD said the number of candidates for regional heads infected with COVID-19 continues to increase. The data they have, there are 59 candidates for regional heads who have contracted the virus.

He conveyed this after conducting a coordination meeting with a number of parties related to the 2020 Pilkada, including with the KPU and Bawaslu.

"Yesterday, Mr. Chairman of the KPU, Mr. Arief was invited during the meeting to report, at that time there were 37 candidates infected with COVID-19. This was 13.00, the report increased to 46 people. Two hours or one and a half hours later, the last report was 58. candidates spread across 21 provinces and this has added one more to 59, "Mahfud said in a press conference held at his office, Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, September 9.

Seeing the increase in this number, the former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) reminded that no party would underestimate COVID-19. This includes underestimating health protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.

He also emphasized that according to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) 's direction, the implementation of health protocols in the middle of the 2020 Pilkada must be a priority.

Furthermore, Mahfud also mentioned that there are still many prospective regional heads who do not comply with health protocols. This was proven by the presence of a crowd during the registration of candidates for regional head to the local KPU.

So he hopes that in the future anyone participating in the 2020 Pilkada can pay more attention to the obligation to maintain health protocols.

"Don't mess with COVID. People who want to participate in this regional election, regardless of form, as contestants, success teams, or voters, as ordinary people, pay attention to this so as not to endanger themselves and others," he said.

"Because what can save and control COVID is discipline towards health protocols. That's the key. The most important medicine is the health protocol," he added.

Previously, during the registration period for regional head candidate pairs (bapaslon) on the steps of 4 to 6 September 2020, there were 260 out of a total of 650 chaplones who violated health protocols by holding parades or gathering supporters.

So far, the sanctions imposed by Bawaslu are administrative witnesses in the form of a written warning to candidate pairs who violate health protocols.

Then, Bawaslu also opens up potential sanctions in the form of criminal threats. However, Bawaslu will first conduct a study of each violation committed by the 2020 Pilkada bapaslon to find elements of more serious violations.

The study is based on Law Number 4 of 1984 concerning Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Law Number 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine which has a criminal effect.

In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs will also postpone the inauguration period for pilkada winners which will be held on December 9 for candidates who are proven to have violated the COVID-19 protocol.

It is proposed that the postponement of the inauguration be carried out for a period of 3 to 6 months. These sanctions are imposed on candidates who are proven repeatedly to have violated the health protocol for the election campaign.