A man, 38, was arrested the day before Indonesia's general elections on Feb. 14, 2024, for attempting to bribe voters in the North Sumatra town of Sibolga, as reported by Jakarta Globe.

What happened

Members of the provincial Election Oversight Body (Bawaslu) said they received a public tipoff about suspected bribery and swiftly arrived at the scene to arrest the suspect.

The suspect is a resident of the Sibolga Sambas district.

An official from North Sumatra’s Bawaslu said the suspect was allegedly caught offering money to buy votes for a legislative council candidate and was providing a demonstration on how to cast votes for the candidate inside a house.

The official did not disclose the name of the candidate and the political party involved.

Vote buying is an illegal activity that involves distributing money or resources to voters with the expectation that the candidate will gain a vote in return.

Vote buying is rumoured to be pervasive in Indonesia despite it being illegal with a penalty of up to four years in jail.

Context

Nearly 205 million people head to the polls on Feb. 14, 2024, to elect their president, vice president and representatives of the People's Consultive Assembly.

The People's Consultive Assembly consists of the House of Representatives, the Senate and members of local legislative bodies at the provincial and city or regency level.

All eyes are on the three particular candidates: Defence minister Prabowo Subianto, former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, and former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan. One of them will become Indonesia's next president.

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