KPU Plans To Ban Regional Head Candidates From Posting Advertisements On Social Media

Illustrations (Photo: Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The General Election Commission (KPU) plans to prohibit 2020 Pilkada participants from placing campaign ads on social media. Participants in this case are political parties, coalitions of political parties, pairs of candidates and campaign teams.

The plan for this prohibition is included in the draft revision of KPU Regulation Number 4 of 2017 concerning the Election Campaign for Governors, Deputy Governors, Regents, Deputy Regents and / or Mayors, and Deputy Mayors.

"The KPU has added to the provisions to ban campaign advertisements on social media because campaign advertisements are only carried out in the mass media," KPU I Commissioner Dewa Raka Sandi said in an online public test, Friday, September 11.

The prohibition of placing campaign advertisements on social media, both advertisements through social media management and social media accounts of public figures, is included in Article 47 paragraph (5) of the revision of PKPU 4/2017.

Furthermore, the KPU requires political parties, candidate pairs and campaign teams to register social media accounts as campaigning platforms.

"Political parties, election participants and campaign teams are required to register an official account on social media in accordance with the maximum one day before the campaign period begins," he said.

In the PKPU 4/2017 revision, the KPU requires pilkada participants to delete campaign material uploads on their social media accounts. This upload deletion should take place no later than one day after the campaign period ends.

"This rule changes the provision of 'closing official accounts on social media' from PKPU Number 4 of 2017 to 'deleting campaign-related content uploads on official social media accounts," explained Dewa.

It is known, the 2020 Simultaneous Continuous Pilkada campaign period was carried out for 71 days with a number of stages. From 26 September to 5 December 2020, candidates for regional head are welcome to conduct limited meeting campaigns, face-to-face campaigns, disseminate campaign materials, install campaign tools, including campaign activities on social media and online.

Then, from September 26 to December 5, regional head candidates are also allowed to participate in public debates between candidate pairs.

Then on November 22 to December 5, regional head candidates may post campaign advertisements through mass, print and electronic media.

It was continued from 6 to 8 December 2020 that the calm period and cleaning of campaign props had entered. Until finally, December 9th was voting day.