Computerized vote-counting to stay

Computerized vote-counting to stay

JAKARTA: The General Elections Commission (KPU) will maintain
computerized vote counting for the election runoff, despite the
opposition from the House of Representatives.

A KPU official tasked with organizing the computerized vote
counting Chusnul Mar'iyah said on Thursday a new software for
vote-counting in the runoff had been installed and staff to enter
data in remote regions had been dispatched.

"In the afternoon of Sept. 20, we hope that a large amount of
data will stream into our data center, which will be set up in a
hotel in Jakarta," Chusnul told reporters here.

The KPU has allotted Rp 9 billion (US$1 million) to pay the
accommodation of the staff. The House budgetary committee has
turned down the Rp 40 billion budget for the computerized vote
counting in the runoff and demanded instead an audit on the
electronic data collection system. -- JP