Technical glitches force reruns<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Delayed elections were held in some areas of the country on
\nTuesday after poll equipment was made available there, while in
\nmany other areas repeated elections proceeded without a hitch.<\/p>\n
It was reported earlier that only some isolated areas of
\nPapua, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and East Nusa Tenggara had to
\ndelay voting scheduled for April 5.<\/p>\n
But it turned out on Tuesday that several regions of Java and
\nother islands were also forced to rerun voting.<\/p>\n
In East Java, at least eight regencies and towns -- Surabaya,
\nSidoarjo, Gresik, Lamongan, Tuban, Sumenep, Pasuruan and
\nSitubondo -- conducted revotes and almost 20 percent of eligible
\nvoters exercised their political rights.<\/p>\n
\"Based on a report received by the East Java Elections
\nCommission (KPUD), as many as eight cities held fresh voting,\"
\nKPUD member Arief Budiman said.<\/p>\n
He said the elections were rerun after ballot papers were
\naccidentally interchanged with those of other districts.<\/p>\n
Except for Sumenep on Madura island, revotes were held because
\nthe number of punched ballot papers was more than that of
\nregistered voters, he added.<\/p>\n
However, the rerun failed to attract voters as it took place
\non a working day. \"Like in Sudimoro village, Tulangan
\nsubdistrict, Sidoarjo, only 80 percent of illegible voters
\nattended the polling station,\" Arief said.<\/p>\n
Similar reruns also took place at some 35 polling stations in
\nnine regencies across Central Java, including Brebes and
\nBoyolali, Surakarta and Karanganyar.<\/p>\n
Voters there only elected local legislative candidates, as
\ntheir votes for candidates for the Regional Representatives
\nCouncil (DPD) and the House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday
\nwere considered valid.<\/p>\n
Central Java's KPUD member Hasyim Asy'ari said that the 35
\npolling booths were among 85,775 others in the province.<\/p>\n
In Yogyakarta, the disruption of the delivery of ballot papers
\nforced the relevant authorities to rerun elections at a number of
\npolling stations.<\/p>\n
However, Yogyakarta's General Election Supervisory Committee
\n(Panwaslu) member Marzuki could not say which polling stations
\nhad to hold revotes.<\/p>\n
\"Give us the chance to recapitulate all this. We will be able
\nto determine by Thursday which areas will, or have, rerun
\nelections,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Local KPUD chairman Suparman Marzuki said officials of polling
\nstations had the right to determine the dates of rerun elections.
\n\"It depends on whether they are prepared or not,\" he added.<\/p>\n
According to him, rerun elections must be held before April 25
\nat the latest. \"Based on prevailing rules, revotes can be
\nconducted 20 days after election day at the latest,\" Suparman
\nargued.<\/p>\n
But, the central KPU issued a decree on Tuesday, allowing
\nregions only until April 9 to rerun elections so that delays to
\nvote counting could be avoided. .<\/p>\n
Deputy KPU chairman Ramlan Surbakti said reruns should be held
\nas soon as possible because the results of the elections must
\nreach his office between April 11 and April 14.<\/p>\n
In Riau, reruns were also organized in the regencies of Rokan
\nHilir, Indragiri Hilir and Kota Dumai, where voters only cast
\nballots for local legislative councils.<\/p>\n
\"In Monday's elections, voters punched the names of
\nlegislative candidates (on the wrong ballot papers), although
\nthey did not recognize them. But later, ahead of the vote
\ncounting, election officials found out that those names did not
\nappear on the tabulation forms,\" Riau's KPUD member Alwis told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Similar reruns are planned for Wednesday in Serdang Bedagai
\nand Tanjung Balai regencies in North Sumatra, after local
\npolitical party leaders agreed on the date.<\/p>\n
However, Medan, Labuhan Batu and Deli Serdang regencies
\ncanceled plans to hold revotes following the agreement of party
\nleaders.<\/p>\n
In West Nusa Tenggara, revotes will take place on Thursday at
\nfive polling stations in Central Lombok regency, while six other
\npolling stations were yet to decide when to rerun elections.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at least 27 polling stations in the regencies of
\nWest Sumba, Ngada and North Central Timor in East Nusa Tenggara
\n(NTT) held delayed elections on Tuesday after they finally
\nreceived ballot papers.<\/p>\n
In Manggarai regency, 20 other polling stations also conducted
\ndelayed elections on Monday night.<\/p>\n
Like NTT, troubled areas of Papua and Aceh are to hold delayed
\nvoting in isolated areas, where the delivery of election
\nmaterials was hampered.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/technical-glitches-force-reruns-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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