Surabaya – A number of people from the Empty Box Movement arrived at the inaugural debate venue for the 2024 election of the Surabaya mayor (Pilkada) at the Dyandra Convention Centre on Wednesday evening, October 16.
The protesters packed the area in front of the Dyandra Convention Centre. They wore black shirts with the writing "People's Justice #Cobloskotakkosong [#Votefortheemptybox). The highest justice with the people. The Pilkada is controlled by the elite, the ordinary people gain no benefits".
The Empty Box Movement demonstrators threatened to break up the public debate because the demand by the of protesters' representatives to take part in the debate was not accommodated by the General Elections Commission (KPU).
They are disappointed that only one candidate ticket is contesting the Surabaya municipal elections – incumbent Mayor Eri Cahyadi and Deputy Mayor Armuji.
Surabaya municipal KPU Chairperson Soeprayitno or Nano personally held an audience with the demonstrators.
One of the organisations that is part of the Empty Box Movement in Surabaya, the East Java (Jatim) Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) through its chairperson Heru Satrio, said that they are demanding that the Surabaya KPU provide an empty seat on the stage for the inaugural debate on Wednesday evening.
The chair would later be used by Empty Box Movement representatives who want to debate the sole Cahyadi-Armuji candidate pair.
"We want the empty chair to be presented as a form of democracy. That the empty box is legitimate as a choice. In a public debate that uses the public budget there must be a balance, there must be the same treatment", said Satrio.
Satrio and the Jatim MAKI as representatives of the empty box protesters then held a one-hour audience with the KPU and the Surabaya Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu).
Following the audience, Satrio said that the KPU objected to providing a seat for the empty box on the stage during the election debate.
According to Satrio, the audience was long and tough. Nevertheless all parties came to an agreement because the debate presenter would continue to mention the empty box throughout the event.
"After a lengthy discussion we finally agreed on one point that the MC in the debate will convey the existence of an empty box candidate pair", he said.
Satrio said that Surabaya Bawaslu also promised to warn the Surabaya KPU and reprimand the debate host if they did not mention the empty box. Following the audience the Empty Box Movement protesters then left the Dyandra Conventions Centre.
Soeprayitno meanwhile explained that the KPU had invited only Cahyadi and Armuji, who are both leading members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and the regional election campaign team, to the inaugural debate with the theme "Service and Community Welfare".
"The ones invited were the candidate pair, the election campaign team and political party representatives", said Nano as he is known to his friends.
Soeprayitno said that that the KPU could not invite representatives or protesters from the Empty Box Movement to the debate because under the regulations they are not considered as participants.
"So here the diction is not a participant, under our provisions there is no requirement to invite them. Then if you invite [an empty box], who do you want to invite", he said.
Soeprayitno said that because only one candidate ticket was taking part in the public debate, it would be held through the mechanism of delivering and sharpening their vision and mission.
"Although the diction is a public debate, and in Surabaya there is only one pair of candidates, according to PKPU [General Election Commission Regulation] Number 1363/2024, there will be a presentation of the vision and mission of the candidate pair, followed by sharpening on the vision and mission delivered by the candidate pair", he said.
Soeprayitno also explained that the sharpening of the vision and mission by the sole candidate pair would be done in several segments, where questions would be compiled by the panellists appointed by the Surabaya city KPU.
He added that there will be four panellists with an academic background who came from a number of universities in Surabaya along with one person with a professional background. (frd/fra)
Notes
The Cahyadi-Armuji ticket is being backed by a coalition of 18 political parties including the PDI-P, the National Awakening Party (PAN), the Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP), the Democrat Party, the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the Golkar Party, the National Democrat Party (NasDem) and the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), which hold seats in the regional legislator. In addition to this, they also have the support of non-parliamentary parties including the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) the Star Cresent Party (PBB), the Nusantara Awakening Party (PKN), the Indonesian Reform Movement Party (Garuda), the Indonesian People's Wave Party (Gelora), the Ummat Party, the United Indonesia Party (Perindo) and the Labour Party.
In the event of a single-candidate election, the KPU has to provide an empty box or a dummy candidate on the ballot paper to give voters an alternative to the sole candidate ticket. In the event that the empty box wins, an acting regional head is appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs until another election can be held. The simultaneous regional elections on November 27 will be held across 548 regions covering 37 provinces, 415 regencies and 93 cities. Out of these, 37 regions will be contested by a sole candidate ticket, seven less than the 44 sole tickets that contested the previous election of regional heads in December 2020.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Massa Gerakan Kotak Kosong Geruduk Arena Debat Pilwalkot Surabaya".]
