Ballot papers in Jakarta ready
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.