PDIP Raises Concerns Over Presidential Election's Fairness

Jakarta (Antara) - Indonesian Democratic Struggle Party (PDIP)'s politician Puan Maharani, who is also the daughter of PDIP's Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, confessed that the party was anxious whether the presidential election 2014 would be held in fair manner. "The thing that we worry about most is power being misused to win the election or degrade other candidates," stated Puan Maharani during a national coordination meeting of PDIP held here on Tuesday. Therefore, Puan expected that instead of abusing its power, the ruling government should enforce stability and security, so that the people can use their rights to vote. Puan also denied that her concerns about the abuse of power during the next presidential election was related to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's governance and underlined that she was only reminding the public that power can be wrongly used in several ways. Agreeing to Puan Maharani's viewpoint, another PDIP politician Tjahjo Kumolo was hopeful that the Democratic Party as the ruling party will maintain a neutral stance in the next presidential election. According to Tjahjo, the Democratic Party, which was founded by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will not endorse any of the presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs of Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa or Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla, as promised during their last national leadership meeting. "Hopefully, the Democratic Party can be really neutral. We do hope Mr Yudhoyono keeps his promise to stay neutral during his final months in office, since his party doesn't have a presidential or vice presidential candidate," Tjahjo affirmed. (*)