No vote-rigging at Al-Zaytun, says KPU<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman and Nana Rukmana, Jakarta\/Indramayu<\/p>\n
The General Elections Commission denied on Friday allegations
\nthat voters had been mobilized to cast their ballots at the Al-
\nZaytun Islamic boarding school in Indramayu regency, West Java.<\/p>\n
KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah said that no regulation had been
\nbreached in the electoral process at the Islamic boarding school.<\/p>\n
\"If a voter has more than one residence, he or she can decide
\nwhere to cast his or her ballot on election day. If a voter were
\nto chose to vote elsewhere, he would need to inform the local
\npoll committee,\" Mulyana said, quoting Article 22 of Law No.
\n23\/2003 on direct presidential elections.<\/p>\n
He said voters had the right to exercise their political right
\nwherever they wished.<\/p>\n
Two members of Indramayu Elections Commission (KPUD) addressed
\nthe media on Friday in relation to the matter.<\/p>\n
KPUD member Agung Mardiyanto and Najib Bunyamin said almost
\n25,000 people who voted at 83 polling stations within the
\nboarding school compound had in fact been registered voters in
\nthe area.<\/p>\n
\"A large number of the voters were in fact family members and
\nrelatives of students and staff members who reside in the Islamic
\nboarding school. All were registered by poll committee members in
\nthe area as early as May,\" Agung said.<\/p>\n
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsudin also attended the news
\nconference.<\/p>\n
Najib denied claims that observers and witnesses from the
\npresidential candidate teams had been wrongfully denied access to
\npolling stations at the Islamic school.<\/p>\n
\"The witnesses were not allowed to enter the polling stations
\nbecause they arrived after 7 a.m., the deadline for a witness to
\nregister their attendance. However, they were allowed to monitor
\nthe balloting from a distance,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Voters registered at Al-Zaytun school numbered 24,825, a
\ndramatic increase from 11,565 in the April 5 legislative
\nelection.<\/p>\n
The candidates of the Golkar Party, Wiranto and Solahuddin
\nWahid, garnered a total of 24,794 votes at polling stations
\nlocated in Al-Zaytun, touted to be the largest Islamic school in
\nSoutheast Asia.<\/p>\n
As for the deployment of 21 military vehicles carrying
\nvoters, Nazaruddin only said: \"It is beyond my authority to
\ncomment on that. Try asking Pak Endriartono.\"<\/p>\n
The KPU chairman was referring to Indonesian Military (TNI)
\nCommander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto.<\/p>\n
A middle-ranking military officer was discharged following his
\ninvolvement in mobilizing voters at Al-Zaytun.<\/p>\n
In a related development, hundreds of residents who lived in
\nthe vicinity of Al-Zaytun staged a rally at the Indramayu KPUD
\noffice.<\/p>\n
The protesters demanded the KPUD invalidate all votes cast
\nfrom polling stations inside the Islamic school.<\/p>\n
After being pushed to the brink by protesters, KPUD member
\nEngkung Kurniati said the local elections commission would hold a
\nplenary meeting next Tuesday to decide whether or not the votes
\nwould be accepted.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-vote-rigging-at-al-zaytun-says-kpu-1447893297",
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