Jakarta – The official campaign period for Jakarta's first-ever direct gubernatorial election kicked off on Sunday. We'll be following Fauzi Bowo and Prijanto's fight against Adang Daradjatun and Dani Anwar for the top spot with our special election coverage from today to Aug. 8.

The election for Jakarta's new governor is just around the corner. It's getting increasingly hard to go anywhere in the city and not see bright orange banners testifying to the greatness of the two candidates.

It will be the first time Jakartans directly elect a governor and is thus an important poll, but there are concerns about the large number of first-time voters who will be participating and the possibility of a low voter turn out.

The Jakarta Elections Commission has said that 15 percent of the 5.7 million registered voters will taking part in an election for the first time.

The Indonesian Survey Institute recently found that 65 percent of eligible voters would not vote in the election – either because they were registered or had decided not to exercise their right to vote.

Other regional head elections have seen high participation rates of between 65 and 85 percent in the past three years.

Political analyst Andrinof Chaniago urged both candidates to focus on issues affecting young people to make sure they turned out on polling day.

"If they want to win the hearts of young people, both candidates should focus on things related to their lives, such as the improvement of youth centers and extracurricular activities at their schools," he said in a recent interview.

They should pay more attention to youth centers in the city's five municipalities, which were in a poor state and were often occupied by squatters, he said.

Moreover, public services, especially the transportation system, should be improved because young adults were highly mobile.

"What is important about this election is that the candidates can make form a relationship with the youths by promising to improve public services and realizing those promises," Chaniago said.

He said young people would actively participate in the election although the would focus more on the popularity of the candidates than their political messages.

Many young people, however, do not seem to be enthusiastic about the election and are unconvinced that the new governor will be able to bring many changes to the city.

A vocational student in Central Jakarta, Abdul Syukur, 17, said he probably would not vote because he thought neither candidate had paid much attention to the youth.

"I'm already registered for the election, but I don't think I will vote, because I think both candidates only care about politics and haven't focused on educational issues or youth matters yet," Abdul said.

He said he hoped that whoever won the election would be able to bring a true change to Jakarta and would focus on problems among teenagers, like drugs.

Anissha Tinanti, 19, said the election did not mean a lot to her as she thought the candidates offered only empty promises.

"But if I have to vote, I will vote for Fauzi Bowo because I think he's more experienced and more popular in Jakarta," said Anissha, a first year architecture student at the University of Indonesia.

Current deputy governor Fauzi Bowo and retired Army general Prijanto will face former deputy chief of the National Police, Adang Daradjatun, and his partner Dani Anwar in the official campaign period that started on Sunday.

Ipang Wahid, Adang's media consultant, said young people were strong supporters of Adang because they agreed with the changes the candidate would bring to city.

"We have many supporting elements, especially from the young, such as from the Orange Volunteers (Relawan Oranye) – a group affiliated with Adang and his running mate – and the Jakmania soccer fans club," Ipang said.

He said they planned to air a TV commercial about education and run several events that involved youth participation.

Fauzi campaign staffer Budi Siswanto said that even though the overall campaign would not focus on young people, they would hold some events involving celebrities or sport stars to educate young voters about the importance of casting their ballots.

"Many young people have known Fauzi even before he ran for the election, since he was the head of National Narcotics Agency and the former head of the National Sports Council," Budi said.