Ballot paper printing wraps up, national distribution almost over
Ballot paper printing wraps up, national distribution almost over
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has beaten the June 15
deadline to print 170 million ballot papers for the first round
of the presidential election, with the 18 firms contracted to
print the forms finishing the job on Wednesday.
In more good news for the commission, distribution companies
appointed by the KPU announced they had delivered 95 percent of
the ballot papers to almost all of the 349 regencies in the
country's 32 provinces. More than 154 million people nationwide
are eligible to vote in the July 5 poll.
KPU member Hamid Awaluddin said as of Wednesday, only a few
regencies in Riau, Riau Islands and Nias in North Sumatra were
yet to receive the papers. "We expect these papers will arrive
tomorrow," he said here.
Hamid said with the assistance from the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the KPU had also shipped 500,000 ballot papers abroad to
overseas polling stations.
The deadline for the ballot paper distribution is June 20.
The commission updated its data on eligible voters after
registering more voters from the country's far-flung regions. The
additional voters affected the total numbers of ballots printed.
The firms were contracted to print more than 170 million
papers bearing the pictures of all presidential and vice
presidential candidates, with 10 percent of that number to be
held in reserve.
Data from the commission said the last papers to be printed
were the 1.6 million ballots allotted for Banten province.
Hamid said the commission had received feedback from 24
provincial General Elections Commissions (KPUD) saying they would
need additional papers for the polls.
Among the provinces were Aceh, South Sulawesi, Central
Kalimantan, Maluku, North Maluku and Papua, he said.
"We have dispatched a total of 600,000 additional papers to
the provinces and have stored another 600,000 in reserve," Hamid
said.
Earlier another KPU member, Valina Singka Subekti, said the
commission would only spend Rp 9 billion (US$940,000) to
distribute the ballots.
However, the KPU declined to disclose the total amount of
money needed to print the papers when asked on Wednesday.
The commission required some 660 million ballot papers for the
April 5 elections, at a cost to taxpayers of more than Rp 180
billion.
A KPU consultant earlier estimated the printing of a single
full-color paper would cost Rp 95, meaning that the commission
would spend about Rp 16 billion for the 170 million ballots.
The House of Representatives (DPR) has approved only Rp 3
trillion of the Rp 3.9 trillion budget proposed by the KPU for
this year's elections. However, a substantial amount has already
been spent on the legislative election and the commission has
said it will need an additional Rp 410 billion to cover the
presidential elections.