REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Speaker of House of Representatives (DPR RI) Bambang Soesatyo believed that abstentions, locally mentioned as golput (golongan putih) is not the right solution in improving the conditions of the country. Therefore, he invited the people to exercise their voting rights in the 2019 presidential election.

Bambang said there were still more than two months for the community to weigh and assess candidates advanced in the legislative and presidential elections.

"Golput is not the right solution in improving the conditions of the nation. Therefore, all candidates must be able to approach the community wisely," Bambang said in Jakarta, on Thursday (Jan 25).

He considered, the legislative candidates must be able to explain about the figure, work program, and vision and mission through communicative dialogue. By doing so, the community will know the candidate and eventually they will not become abstentions.

He also invited all parties to prioritize manners and ethics in campaigning to earn sympathy and empathy. Otherwise, the people would become antipathy.

"The legislative candidates and their success teams from the village level to the regency level should not be part of the troublemakers who destroy the vibrant party of democracy," he said.

According to him, the community was committed to welcoming the 2019 presidential election with the joy that attaches a sense of nationality rather than being anarchy. He asked the legislative candidates and the winning team not to produce and disseminate hoaxes and utterances of hatred that could cause the community to be antipathetic and prefer to abstain.

"Avoid all forms of black campaigns that will only result in blunders and abstention," he said.

He considered the success of the winning team not only against the victory of the candidates, but most importantly able to maintain the spirit of togetherness and unity among children of the nation.

Earlier, Director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Arief Maulana said the number of abstainers or non-voters in the 2019 presidential election are estimated will increase compared to the 2014 presidential election. He explained that it was a global phenomenon.

"Voters choose to not exercise their voting right as a form of correction," Arief said at the Jakarta YLBHI Building on Wednesday.

According to Arief, it happens everywhere. Every year, based on global phenomenon data, the number of non- voters has indeed increased, including in Indonesia, he added.

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