Computer network used to collect vote results

JAKARTA (JP): The General Elections Commission (KPU) promises transparency in the ballot-counting process for the June 7 elections, with a plan to develop an integrated database network to collect votes from all 327 regencies and a public information service.

KPU deputy chairman Adnan Buyung Nasution said in a news briefing on Thursday the commission signed a cooperation with several companies to set up the network. The system is expected to be ready for operation a week ahead of the polls.

"The commission is launching this step because it wishes to provide an information technology facility in the ballot-counting process so the public can monitor it throughout the 290,000 balloting sites across the country," he said.

He said the election commission, the election supervisory committee, independent monitoring bodies, local and international observers and individuals could obtain information through the network. Any matters concerning the elections, including complaints of vote rigging and manipulation, could be traced to the balloting sites.

"Manipulations which were prevalent during past elections are expected to be prevented in the coming elections," he added.

Chairman of KPU subcommission C on the information system, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, said the vote collection would be conducted through making use of the on-line information network of a consortium of banks in regencies and mayoralties.

The system will be connected to a master computer at the KPU building. Ballot counting can be monitored directly and with real time, he said.

A staff member of the KPU working team said the process of collecting votes from balloting sites and conveying them to the computer center at the KPU building would take between three hours and seven days after votes were cast.

Bintang said the election commission would also provide an interactive voice/fax response system (IVFR) and an Internet homepage to give the public access to data on results.

"With the IVFR system, the public can have access, through 900 phone lines available, to retrieve data directly in voice and through facsimile. The public can also enter the KPU homepage with the password pemilu by dialing certain phone numbers that will be available in nine provincial capitals, including Medan, Jakarta, Surabaya, Ujungpandang and Manado," he said.

Andi Alfian Mallarangeng, a member of the KPU subcommission, acknowledged the collecting of votes in balloting sites and their transportation to regencies would remain vulnerable to manipulation.

"To minimize possibility of such manipulation, all balloting papers will be stamped with serial numbers. In addition, the transportation of voting results from balloting sites to vote collecting groups in subdistricts and to election committees in regencies must be conducted under a tight supervision," he said.

He also said the International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) established a joint operation between the United States, Japan and Australia. The three countries will set up an on-line database network covering election results from more than 4,500 subdistricts across the country.

The joint operation will have its network center at the Aryaduta Hotel in Jakarta and its work will be useful as a comparison for the results provided by the election commission, he said.

Meanwhile, the election commission decided on Thursday that the 65 seats of the interest group faction at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) will be distributed to religious groups (20 seats), independence fighters (five), small-scale business groups (nine), women's groups (five), intellectual groups (9), non-governmental organizations (five), civil servants corps (five), minority ethnics (five) and the handicapped (two).

"The legal mechanism of the appointment of the MPR faction members will be set later," Andi said. (rms)