Late ballot paper printing threatens poll<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The printing of ballot papers may be moved further back as film
\nprinting firms have still not finished the templates for the
\nballots, which will greatly delay the delivery of the election
\nmaterials to all the polling stations.<\/p>\n
KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah, who chaired the ballot paper
\ntender committee, said on Monday the companies would be delayed
\nat least until Thursday to finish all 211 templates for the
\nelection of provincial legislative (DPRD I) members and 1,744
\ntemplates for the election of regency\/municipality councillors
\n(DPRD II).<\/p>\n
KPU has named State Printing Firm (PNRI) and Grafitecindo to
\nproduce the templates for the elections.<\/p>\n
Mulyana, however, played down the impending delay.<\/p>\n
\"So far, the situation is still under control,\" he told
\nreporters.<\/p>\n
The delays have forced the KPU to revise the schedule of
\nballot paper printing by four weeks to March 1 and their arrival
\nto polling stations by five days to March 30 after agreeing on a
\ncondition that the printing jobs get done at extra speed.<\/p>\n
Earlier the commission set a March 25 deadline for all
\nelection materials to arrive at polling stations across the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The KPU selected 18 companies to print the 660 million ballot
\npapers for the April 5 legislative election.<\/p>\n
Separately, CV Riski Grafis, a member of a company led by
\nDharma Anugerah said they would complete the printing of 27.1
\nmillion ballots in 10 days at full operational capacity.<\/p>\n
\"But we haven't received all the materials yet for 23.4
\nmillion papers Regional Representative Council (DPD) members. If
\nwe are forced to speed up the printing work, we might have to
\nsubcontract some of it out,\" Ari Gania, senior executive of Riski
\nGrafis said.<\/p>\n
He complained about the size of the template too, as it was
\nlarger than standard office paper, making it difficult to print
\nthe first 3.7 million ballot papers.<\/p>\n
Riski Grafis is responsible for ballot papers for the DPR
\ncandidates in East Java electoral district IX, for DPD in West
\nJava electoral districts III to X.<\/p>\n
Temprina Media Grafika group, which won the contract to print
\n48.4 million ballot papers, promised to finish the job in three
\nto four days.<\/p>\n
Temprina, which includes Newspaper Publishers Union (SPS)
\nmembers PT Temprint, PT Gramedia and PT Sinar Agape, will print
\nballot papers for the election of House members in South Sulawesi
\nelectoral district I, II, Lampung II, East Java II, III, IV, V,
\nVII, X, East Java I, East Nusa Tenggara I, II, Papua, West
\nKalimantan and for the DPD in East Java I, VI, VIII, West
\nKalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara and East Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Using a simple calculation of the maximum 10-day period to
\nprint ballot papers and adding the time for delivery of polling
\nmaterials to the capital cities of Papua, Maluku and Gorontalo
\n(it took eight days in past elections), some provinces will only
\nreceive the ballot papers for the election of House and DPD
\nmembers by March 20. It will take longer to reach the regencies
\nin those provinces and more time to reach each village polling
\nstation.<\/p>\n
If the printing of the ballot papers for the election of DPRD
\nI and DPRD II start on March 4 or 5, it could be very tight.<\/p>\n
Racing against time, KPU plans to ask the Air Force to help
\nspeed up the delivery of ballot papers in some regions, including
\nPapua, West Irian Jaya, Maluku, Kalimantan, Aceh, East Nusa
\nTenggara and the Riau Islands.<\/p>\n
The Air Force will help deliver the ballots to airports, and
\nthe Regional Military Command (Kodam) will send the ballots to
\nregencies\/municipalities, KPU deputy secretary general Sussongko
\nSuhardjo said.<\/p>",
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