Alleged Violations Of The Kudus Cabup Campaign, Bawaslu Call Witnesses And Reporters

Billboards Will Pair Candidates for Regent and Deputy Regent of Kudus Sam'ani Intakiris and Bellinda Putri Sabrino Birton. (ANTARA/Akhmad Nazaruddin Lathif)

JATENG - The Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of Kudus Regency, has begun to summon witnesses and reporters of alleged campaign violations in the 2024 Pilkada which were allegedly carried out by the candidate for regent (cabup) Kudus number 01.

"Today (October 13), we summoned the complainant on behalf of Andi Imam Santoso, witnesses, as well as a number of other related parties related to reports of alleged campaign violations against candidate number 01," said Head of Bawaslu Kudus Regency Moh Wahibul Minan in Kudus, Sunday, October 13, confiscated by Antara.

He revealed that the summons of Andi Imam Santoso who reported to Bawaslu was accompanied by the Attorney for the Candidate Pair for Deputy Regent Number 02 (Hartopo-Wahib) on October 9, 2024 for questioning.

The summons, he said, is scheduled for today from October 13 to 14, 2024. Meanwhile, the decision is scheduled for Wednesday, October 16.

Previously, he added, Bawaslu Kudus also conducted an initial study to analyze the terms of the report and the report was declared to meet formal and material requirements.

Regarding the video of the Cabup Kudus number 01 Sam'ani Intakoris trying to culinary street vendors (PKL) in the Simpang 7 Kudus Square which coincided with an event funded by the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD), political observer Herry Mendrofa assessed that Sam'ani had not violated the rules.

The reason, he said, was that Sam'ani did not bring or install campaign attributes and did not hold special meetings.

In the context of campaigns, he said, the mechanisms vary from meetings, dialogues, and installation of attributes.

He considered that the Sam'ani-Bellinda candidate activity should be appreciated, because he did not necessarily carry out a campaign, namely bringing attributes to special meetings.

"Sam'ani also looks like she's having dinner at street vendors, and only having a dialogue and not putting up campaign attributes is legal and does not violate," he said.

Regarding reporting to each other in political competence such as the 2024 Pilkada, he said, it was a natural thing.

"Of course the mechanism will be tested in Bawaslu. Of course all candidate pairs must respect the existing process," he said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Information Society Development and Empowerment Institute (LPPMI) Kamilov Sagala considered that what Sam'ani did was a smart way of introducing themselves to the public without violating campaign rules.

"The positions of these candidates compete in a good way and do not show vulgar or unlawful ways," he said.