Legislative Candidate Spends Rp1,18 Billion for Campaigning: Survey

Jakarta (Antara) - A survey conducted by the University of Indonesia's Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM UI) recently revealed that a candidate will spend at least Rp1.18 billion or US$103 thousand toward the 2014 general election campaign. "The number is four times higher than the average money spent by most legislative candidates during the general elections in 2009, namely Rp250 million or US$ 22 thousand per candidate," researcher at the LPEM UI, Teguh Hardanto, explained here on Wednesday, at a seminar titled Becoming People's Representative. According to him the Rp1.18 billion funds for political campaign could be categorized as a rational cost. Based on the research conducted by LPEM-UI, Teguh explained that the lowest fund for political campaign stands at Rp320 million (US$28.2 thousand) while the highest is Rp3 billion (US$264 thousand). Teguh predicted that there will be Rp115 Trillion (US$1,3 billion) of funds circulating in Indonesia during the 2014 election. The number is three times higher than the one in 2009's election. This amount equals to the money spent to build 12 hydro power plants. There are three industrial sectors that will benefit from the upcoming elections, namely paper and carton (18 percent), transportation and communication (17 percent) and textile, clothing and leather (12 percent), Teguh elaborated. (*) Reporting by Anita Permata Dewi Translating and Editing by Amie Fenia Arimbi