Elections on schedule despite preparation snags<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Reports of glitches in the logistics of poll
\npreparations continued to stream in from various regions on
\nSaturday, but the National Elections Committee (PPI) was
\nconfident the poll will take place as scheduled on Monday.<\/p>\n
PPI chairman Jacob Tobing said materials such as ballot
\npapers, hologram stickers to be attached to the sheets, related
\nforms and documents have reached the polling stations.<\/p>\n
The election authorities estimated 320,000 polling stations
\nare being readied across the country for 112 million registered
\nvoters. An estimated 60 percent of the voters live in rural
\nareas.<\/p>\n
In addition, at least 60 percent of the votes will have been
\ntabulated by Monday evening.<\/p>\n
Jacob said preparations commenced satisfactorily even in
\nregions which were affected by violence and clashes.<\/p>\n
"We hope this conducive situation can be maintained until the
\nvoting day," he said.<\/p>\n
The reports of lack of preparation came from various areas.<\/p>\n
In Buton, Southeast Sulawesi, the local elections committee
\nhas yet to receive 40,000 hologram stickers and other materials
\nfor the polls from the General Elections Commission (KPU) and
\nPPI.<\/p>\n
The committee's secretary, D.J. Gultom, told The Jakarta Post
\non Saturday, "We are very nervous because the hologram stickers
\nare needed to determine the validity of the ballot sheets."<\/p>\n
Gultom said the regency needed 759,084 hologram stickers but
\nhas received only 720,000 stickers from KPU.<\/p>\n
The regency is currently accommodating more than 50,000
\nrefugees from the riot-stricken Maluku capital of Ambon, with
\n20,000 of them being eligible voters.<\/p>\n
Gultom said, however, the local chapters of the political
\nparties have agreed to continue with the poll even if the
\nhologram stickers failed to reach capital Bau-bau on Monday.<\/p>\n
Committee chairman Ambo Sakka threatened earlier to cancel the
\npoll in the regency if the KPU insisted on having the stickers
\naffixed to the ballot sheets.<\/p>\n
The local chapter of the University Network for Free and Fair
\nElections (UNFREL) found that at least 158 polling stations out
\nof the 690 necessary have yet to be set up.<\/p>\n
"The committee said that it had set up all of the polling
\nstations but we found 158 have yet to be erected," UNFREL's
\ncoordinator La Asa said.<\/p>\n
The poll may also have to be delayed in some areas in Maluku
\nbecause facilities such as the forms and the indelible ink needed
\nto prevent multiballoting have yet to reach there.<\/p>\n
Maluku's election committee executive A. Rahawarin told Antara
\non Saturday, "We are working to complete the preparations for the
\npolls."<\/p>\n
Rahawarin said at least four regencies -- North Maluku,
\nCentral Maluku, South East Maluku and Tual -- reported a lack of
\npolls materials.<\/p>\n
"We have contacted KPU, but officials there replied that the
\nmaterials have been brought in on a chartered plane," he said.<\/p>\n
"The polls can be postponed for up to 30 days after June 7.
\nIt's allowed by the regulation," Rahawarin said.<\/p>\n
Back in Jakarta, UNFREL chairman Todung Mulya Lubis said that
\nthe organization is ready to monitor Monday's poll.<\/p>\n
"We call on the public to report to us if they find violations
\nduring the polls," Lubis said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
He said UNFREL has deployed 105,000 volunteers to monitor
\npolling stations in 22 provinces.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, UNFREL activists distributed brochures and
\norchids to motorists at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in
\nCentral Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The city was free of political parties' supporters' noisy
\nmotorcades on Saturday. The day was, instead, marked by officials
\nand workers cleaning up and dismantling party symbols and
\nattributes, which have accumulated for at least the past three
\nweeks.<\/p>\n
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, Jakarta Military Commander Maj.
\nGen. Djadja Suparman and representatives of all political
\nparties, witnessed the start of the dismantling on Jl. Thamrin at
\nFriday midnight.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso said the city administration had set Sunday midnight
\nas the deadline for the removal of all party attributes from
\nvarious spots in the capital.<\/p>\n
Thousands of wooden posts, known as "command posts", erected
\nthroughout the city by supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri of
\nthe Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), had
\nto be demolished as well, he said.<\/p>\n
"All will have to be pulled down and I hope all parties
\nconcerned can accept this decision and implement it as soon as
\npossible," he said.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, supporters of PDI Perjuangan repainted the red
\nposts white or tore them down.<\/p>\n
Mesan, a Sleman resident, said here on Saturday, "It's
\nactually better to just paint the posts white so they can be used
\nas security outposts, rather than tearing them down,"
\n(27\/44\/48\/jun)<\/p>",
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