Sibolga. The election watchdog arrested a man for attempting to bribe voters in the North Sumatra town of Sibolga on the eve of the elections on Tuesday, marking the first decisive action against election fraud in the 2024 elections.

The suspect, a 38-year-old resident of the Sibolga Sambas district, was identified by the initials PR.

Members of the provincial Election Oversight Body (Bawaslu) acted on a public tipoff about suspected bribery and promptly arrived at the scene to arrest PR. He was allegedly caught offering money to buy votes for a legislative council candidate.

"The suspect was arrested for attempting to bribe voters and providing a demonstration on how to cast votes for the candidate inside a house," said Johan Alamsyah, an official from North Sumatra’s Bawaslu.

He refrained from disclosing the names of the candidate and the political party involved.

Vote buying is considered a criminal offense in Indonesia, carrying a penalty of up to four years of imprisonment.

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