Punched ballot papers dumped in East Java<\/p>\n
SURABAYA, East Java (JP): Police in Gresik are investigating
\nthe recent discovery of 30 bags of punched ballots in a
\nstorehouse belonging to a paper and iron recycling company in
\nDriyorejo village.<\/p>\n
Police discovered the ballots following a report by the local
\nbranch of the Independent Elections Monitoring Committee (KIPP).<\/p>\n
\"The ballots are legal because they contain official holograms
\nand signatures of polling committee officials,\" local KIPP
\nchairman Muhammad Faizin said.<\/p>\n
A ruling by the General Elections Commission (KPU) states
\nregency elections committees must keep all punched ballots for at
\nleast three months after election day in anticipation of a vote
\nrecount.<\/p>\n
Faizin said a number of KIPP volunteers filed a report with
\nthe police after they saw children playing with dozens of ballots
\nnear the storehouse on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
He said he suspected the ballots were intentionally dumped.<\/p>\n
Gresik Police chief Lt. Col. Sudarto said the police had
\nseized the ballots as evidence and would seek help from their
\ncolleagues in Bangkalan on Madura Island, Surabaya and the
\nCentral Java towns of Surakarta and Sragen because some of the
\nballots came from there.<\/p>\n
\"I'm afraid certain people intentionally threw away the
\nballots to disrupt the elections,\" he said.<\/p>\n
National Elections Committee (PPI) chairman Jacob Tobing urged
\nboth the police and the Elections Supervisory Committee on Friday
\nto investigate the case.<\/p>\n
He said that days after the June 7 elections, the PPI told
\nregency-level elections committees across the country to keep all
\nballots as required by the KPU.<\/p>\n
Swindle<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, the Indonesian Legal Rights and Human Rights
\nAssociation (PBHI) urged the Elections Supervisory Committee and
\nthe police to investigate the alleged embezzlement of salaries
\nintended for staff members of local elections committees.<\/p>\n
Local PBHI chairman Hillarius Ng Mero said on Friday an
\ninvestigation conducted at a number of polling stations across
\nthe province found elections workers' salaries were cut by
\nbetween Rp 3,000 and Rp 11,000. He estimated the alleged
\nembezzlement reached Rp 1.45 billion.<\/p>\n
There were 5,265 polling stations in the province, each
\nemploying 55 workers who, according to the KPU, should have
\nreceived between Rp 10,000 and Rp 25,000 each.<\/p>\n
Hillarius said in some polling places in the Umbulharjo
\nWirobrajan, Kalasan and Wonolelo subdistricts, polling committee
\nchiefs had their salaries reduced to Rp 20,000.<\/p>\n
He said he suspected government officials who procured the
\nelections funds committed the swindle.<\/p>\n
In Palu, the chairman of the Central Sulawesi Provincial
\nElections Supervisory Committee, Wahyana Endra Jarwa, upheld a
\ndecision by the lower committee in Banggai regency recommending
\nthe polls be reheld at a polling station in Rusakencana village,
\nToili subdistrict.<\/p>\n
\"The polls must immediately be reheld because all ballots were
\nfound to have the voters' thumbprints,\" Wahyana said, adding that
\nthis violated the principle of secrecy.<\/p>\n
He said a similar case was found at a polling station in
\nKulawi subdistrict, also in Banggai regency.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Maluku Provincial Elections
\nCommittee, Lutfi Sanaky, said the schedule for the ballot recount
\nin Central and North Maluku was still undecided because the
\ncommittee had yet to receive the original vote tabulations from
\nthe two regencies.(38\/40\/43\/48\/imn\/nur\/rms\/swa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/punched-ballot-papers-dumped-in-east-java-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}