Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - Four thousand civil servants in Papua province declared on Monday that they will maintain neutrality during the 2024 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections as well as Regional Elections.

The pledge of the civil servants from the Papua provincial government was read out during an event held at the Papua Bangkit Indoor Sporting Arena in Jayapura city.

According to the Papua administration's acting regional secretary, Derek Hegemur, the civil servants pledged to remain neutral and avoid any conflict of interest during the national and regional elections.

They also vowed not to intimidate or threaten other civil servants or community members, and not take the side of any candidate, he said.

All civil servants in Papua also pledged to continue serving the public fairly and professionally, he added.

ANTARA reported earlier that the General Elections Commission (KPU) has declared that a total of 204,807,222 voters are on the final voter list for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

The KPU has announced that the parliamentary and presidential elections will be held simultaneously on February 14, while the regional elections will take place simultaneously on November 27.

For the 2024 elections, the commission has officially set a 75-day election campaign period for the three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates — from November 28, 2023, to February 10, 2024.

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All participating political parties and presidential contenders have pledged to conduct peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections.

As part of its efforts to make voters aware of the three candidate pairs' political pledges, the commission has decided to organize five rounds of debates ahead of the presidential election.

The first and second rounds were held on December 12 and December 22, 2023. The third round took place on January 7, 2024, while the fourth and fifth rounds will be held on January 21 and February 4, respectively.

The three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates contesting the presidential election are Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.

Anies and Muhaimin have been nominated with the support of the NasDem Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Ummat Party.

Meanwhile, Prabowo and Gibran have the backing of the Gerindra Party and a coalition of parties, including Golkar, National Mandate Party (PAN), Democratic Party, and Gelora Party.

Ganjar and Mahfud have the support of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), United Development Party, Perindo Party, and Hanura Party.

Related news: Bawaslu asks state apparatus to maintain political neutrality

Translator: Qadri P, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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