Noticias

Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie will be making less appearances on the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa campaign trail because of concerns his presence could adversely impact the pair’s efforts to win the July 9 presidential election, says a senior Golkar politician.

The chairman of the forum for Golkar’s regional chapters, Muntasir Hamid, said Aburizal was a “problematic” politician who could “drive away” voters.

Jakarta. Indonesia’s two presidential candidates are outdoing each other with hardline policies to rein in foreign firms and control the resources sector, risking a lurch towards nationalism in Southeast Asia’s top economy, analysts say.

Frontrunner Joko Widodo and ex-general Prabowo Subianto have said they will favor domestic companies in the lucrative oil and gas industry and have pledged to stick with a controversial mineral ore export ban ahead of the July 9 polls.

Potential voters in the upcoming July 9 presidential election would likely choose a candidate linked to the parties of their regional leaders, a survey shows.

The survey, which was conducted by the United Data Center, shows that mayors and governors represent political parties strongholds and potential voters in certain areas would be more likely to back either presidential figures Prabowo Subianto or Joko “Jokowi” Widodo based on party preferences.

The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) said on Sunday it had sent reports to the Elections Monitoring Agency (Bawaslu) on scores of legislative candidates who allegedly received funds from illegal sources to pay for their campaigns in the April 9 legislative election.

According to PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso, the PPATK initially received a request from Bawaslu to probe the bank accounts of a number of legislative candidates, some of whom are incumbents.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The General Elections Commission (KPU) has so far received budget allocations of Rp7.9 trillion to finance the presidential elections, its secretary general Arif Rahman Hakim said. 

"The budget has been allocated to the KPU. The budget consists of Rp4 trillion for the first round of presidential elections and Rp3.9 trillion for the second round," he said here on Sunday.

The use of budget allocations for the second round of presidential elections depended on whether the polls would be held in one round or two rounds, he said.

Lawmakers are planning to revise an internal regulation so that the next speaker of the House of Representatives is selected via a voting mechanism, instead of the position being automatically granted to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which secured the largest number of votes in the 2014 legislative election.

The plan emerged amid an ongoing discussion to revise the Legislative Institution Law, known as MD3, a revision that, according to critics, would shut off public monitoring and accountability if approved. 

Campaigning for Indonesia’s July presidential election officially kicked off Wednesday, with favorite Joko Widodo facing a tough challenge from a Suharto-era former general with a chequered human rights record.

Widodo, who won legions of fans during his time as Jakarta governor, started the campaign period with a ceremony at his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s headquarters in the capital.