CIDISS. Implementation of the election of regional heads simultaneously this year will be held on June 27, 2018. Approaching the implementation, all preparations are attempted to be completed soon so that the election stage is not hampered. To carry out its implementation, the government set up a number of regulations that should be obeyed by all the elements involved. However, the rules that have been prepared are not absolute and inviolable. In the event of future nonconformities, the regulation may be considered for revision.
The Supervisory Board of the North Sumatera Elections has issued a circular that limits the movement of candidates for regional heads during Ramadan. The revised regulations related to the prohibition of candidate pairs and winning teams give alms and say good-bye in the public sphere. Based on the statement of Syafridah Rachmawati (North Sumatra Election Supervisory Agency), the revision was made following the strong reaction of a number of candidate pairs as well as certain parties to assess this rule is too much. As a result, a wave of rallies took place at the North Sumatra Election Supervisory Agency in Medan City in order to reject the regulation.
In addition to that, the candidate pair of regional head and the winning team are also prohibited from sharing the imsakiah schedule with the pictures of candidate pairs and are prohibited from submitting the material containing the solicitation or voting campaign for the candidate pair in the place of worship. Even the candidates for regional heads and their successful teams are also prohibited from distributing infak, alms, and Lebaran gifts for campaign purposes.
Seeing the number of such limits, the General Election Supervisory Board of North Sumatra needs to revise the rules. Although some circles also assess the revision of this rule at risk of enlarging the gap of the violations committed by certain elements.
However, whatever the reason, the revision made by the Election Supervisory Board of North Sumatra aims to launch the election of regional head 2018. Government efforts should be appreciated because of the revision that indicates the government always prioritize the successful implementation of local elections so it is not true if the issue arose that the election the head of the region is full of interests.
By: Mirwan Achmad *)
