Jakarta recount protested by polling officials<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Several district polling committee officials
\nraised objections on Sunday concerning the decision of the
\nJakarta Provincial Elections Committee to re-count ballot papers
\ndue to indications of serious mistakes in tallying.<\/p>\n
Some district polling committees said they would oppose the
\ndecision and leave the re-counting to senior officials in
\nmayoralty or provincial committees.<\/p>\n
"There are no significant errors here and no political
\nparties' representatives uttered any objections, chairman of East
\nJakarta's Pasar Rebo district polling committee Rafles Ma'as told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
"So why should we re-count the ballots?" he asked.<\/p>\n
On Friday, an executive of the Provincial Elections Committee
\nannounced that because many discrepancies had been found all
\nballot papers should be re-counted, which could reach some four
\nmillion papers. Thirty-two city chapters of political parties
\nsaid they would demand that the poll in Jakarta be repeated if
\ndifferences in tallying could not be settled soon.<\/p>\n
Head of the provincial committee's program division Muchammad
\nTaufik has said all ballot papers should be re-counted, but on
\nSunday he said the mechanism would be up to district polling
\ncommittees. This would mean they would either reopen and re-count
\nballot papers or only check tallying based on documents.<\/p>\n
Rafles said that if the provincial committee insisted on a
\ndecision, district polling committee members were willing to
\nbecome witnesses only.<\/p>\n
"I don't want to waste time. The provincial committee should
\ntake into consideration that district committee members are
\nexhausted after working day and night even since before the poll,
\nthat some have even sacrificed their jobs," Rafles said.<\/p>\n
Discrepancies in tallying should, as a rule, be accepted by
\nall committee members as they include political parties
\ncontesting the polls.<\/p>\n
Rafles, who owns a small cookie business, said, however, that
\nhe was willing to work another two weeks. If the tallying at the
\ndistrict level was still questioned after that, he said he would
\nresign from his chairmanship.<\/p>\n
"I must think of my family; my business has been in a mess
\nsince more than two weeks ago and I still have to pay my five
\nworkers, which amounts to Rp 30,000 a day, while I'm not getting
\nany income," Rafles said. The father of seven said he had even
\nhad his cellular phone temporarily cut off to cut expenses.<\/p>\n
Guntur Alamsyah, secretary of the Duren Sawit Elections
\nCommittee in East Jakarta, also said re-counting should only
\naffect places where vote discrepancies occurred.<\/p>\n
"Of course we object to the decision because the tallying is
\ncompleted; there were differences found at a Pondok Bambu polling
\nplace but they have settled the problem themselves."<\/p>\n
Guntur added that the decision shows that the provincial
\ncommittee did not trust the work of the 43 district committees.<\/p>\n
"We have done the best we could for the sake of a better
\npolitical life, but we have not received mutual respect (of the
\nprovincial committee)," he said.<\/p>\n
Guntur said he did not want to complain, but the honorarium
\nfor a chairman of a district committee was "far from decent" at
\nRp 40,000 until the project finished; a deputy chairman received
\nRp 35,000; a secretary Rp 30,000, a deputy secretary Rp 25,000
\nwhile committee members received Rp 20,000 each.<\/p>\n
However, South Jakarta Mayoralty Elections Committee chairman
\nSambudi Bakri told the Post that a re-count should be held
\nbecause discrepancies and violations were found at almost all
\nvoting places in his area.<\/p>\n
"We will re-count the ballot tomorrow (Monday) with or without
\nthe agreement of district committees. We should question them if
\nthey are reluctant (to re-count the ballots)," he said.<\/p>\n
As of Sunday, the mechanism of the re-counting process was
\nstill confusing. In South Jakarta, officials said re-counting
\nwould be held by each district committee, but in Central Jakarta
\nthe process would be by the mayoralty elections committee.<\/p>\n
Central Jakarta committee chairman M. Mukson said he had
\ninstructed all district committees to send the ballot boxes to
\nthe mayoralty committee office.<\/p>\n
"The re-counting will only be for districts where
\ndiscrepancies and violations were found," he told the Post,
\nadding that this was in line with instructions from provincial
\ncommittee chairman Djafar Badjeber.(ind)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-recount-protested-by-polling-officials-1447893297",
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