Ballot papers in Jakarta ready
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta) ensured eligible voters in the capital that preparation for the general election on April 5 has been completed amid the government's contingency planning for other areas in the country that have not received ballot papers yet.
KPU Jakarta chairman Muhamad Taufik said on Tuesday that the ballot boxes, papers and ink, which have been the main concern, were all in place and ready to go.
"The election preparation is complete -- 100 percent. There won't be any problems," he said.
According to Taufik, KPU Jakarta has started distributing to polling stations all the necessary material, including voters' cards, ballot papers, ballot boxes and polling booths. He guaranteed that everything would reach local poll administrators (KPPS) at subdistricts by April 2, at the latest.
For its 6,478,005 eligible voters, who have received their voter cards, Jakarta needs a total of 24,017 polling stations with 126,089 polling booths, 93,891 ballot boxes and 21,377,417 ballot papers.
Taufik said that KPU Jakarta has a 5 percent reserve for all materials, except ballot papers, to ensure that the election will have ample supplies. He said that the central KPU was not providing a similar reserve for other provinces.
Thousands of ballot papers were found to be damaged in some parts of the country while millions others have yet to reach many areas.
As the cooling-off period -- from campaigning -- will take place from April 2 through April 4, the Jakarta Public Order Agency will deploy 6,000 officers starting Friday to clean up the capital and all the party banners and posters.
The agency head Soebagio said that the clearing of all party flags would start on Friday with those displayed at City Hall.
He also called on the parties to help by disposing of their own flags and posters across the city during from Friday to Sunday.
"We hope that all of the party flags will be gone by Sunday the day before voting," he said.
Some 4,000 police personnel have been deployed to provide security during the campaign but the number will be increased up to around 16,000 personnel on Monday, the day of the vote.