Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – Vote buying may mar the upcoming simultaneous regional election on Feb. 15 as some residents are still permissive of the practice, the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) says.

Bawaslu monitoring division coordinator Daniel Zuchron said many residents, most of whom live in underdeveloped regions, were willing to receive payment in exchange for their votes. Vote buying, he went on, may occur in provinces, regencies or cities with a high Election Vulnerability Index.

Bawaslu reported in January that West Papua was the area most prone to conflict, followed by Aceh, Banten, West Sulawesi, Jakarta, Bangka Belitung, Gorontalo, Central Java, Papua and South East Sulawesi.

"We have instructed field officers to keep a watchful eye on this issue because vote buying may no longer occur only at dawn, but also in the morning," Daniel said, referring to the practice of bribing voters in the early morning, a few hours before voting kicks off, locally known as serangan fajar, or dawn attack.

To combat the vote buying practice, Bawaslu has instructed supervisors of each vulnerable area to directly monitor the election preparation and implementation, Daniel added.

Separately, national coordinator of the People's Voter Education Network (JPPR) Masykurudin Hafid echoed the same sentiment, saying that money politics was a concern during the cooling-off period from Feb. 12 to 14. (hol) (trw)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/02/07/people-still-permissive-of-vote-buying-bawaslu.html