Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – A tight gubernatorial race in Jakarta may lead to vote-buying in the capital as the three candidate pairs will strive to pass through to the second round of the election, an Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher says.

Citing the latest survey by Kompas, ICW researcher Donal Fariz said the popularity ratings of Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Sylviana Murni stood close at 28.5 percent and 28.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, incumbent governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidayat outstripped their rivals with a 36.2 percent rating.

"Such a tight electability margin will prompt the campaign teams of the three candidate pairs to strive to boost their votes. It is possible they will use any means, including vote-buying, to pass the first round of the election," Donal said during a discussion at the ICW office in Kalibata, South Jakarta, on Friday.

Several pollsters have predicted the Jakarta election will be a two-round race as none of the candidates seems strong enough to garner more than 50 percent of the vote to win the election, as required by a 2007 law on the Jakarta administration.

To prevent vote-buying, Donal said, Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) officers should pay special attention to slum and poor areas both before and on election day on Feb. 11.

"Vote-buying perpetrators usually target poor residents. Election supervisors should pay more attention to those areas to prevent such violations," he said. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/02/11/tight-race-in-jakarta-may-trigger-vote-buying-icw.html