Election watchdog says KPU lying
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Contradicting an earlier claim by the General Elections Commission (KPU), the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) said on Saturday that it had found that more than 1.2 million ballot papers had not reached some regencies in 24 provinces as of Friday, only 10 days before the election.
"We have sent a letter to the KPU to warn them about the late delivery problem. If the papers failed to reach polling stations on time, there will be a series of election violations as happened during the legislative elections," committee deputy chairman Saut Sirait told a press conference.
Committee data from its branches across the country found that many regencies, including North Aceh, Banda Aceh, Sabang, South Aceh and Pidie, lacked ballot papers.
The data from Aceh showed that North Aceh regency had only received 293,603 out of the total of 310,000 ballot papers required. Banda Aceh needs 132,285 more ballot papers as it has only received 26,277.
Tangerang, meanwhile, needs 254,979 more ballot papers, Buleleng 299,390, South Tapanuli 28,958, Dairi 7,263, Tebing Tinggi 4,512 and Sibolga 2,749.
Earlier on Friday, KPU member Hamid Awaluddin said the commission had finished the printing of more than 160 million ballot papers for around 154 million eligible voters. He said all the papers would reach subdistrict election committees (PPS) by Friday evening.
During the legislative elections in April, the KPU faced the possibility of violating electoral law by failing to distribute ballot papers to all subdistrict committees 10 days before polling day. The crisis ended after the government issued a government regulation in lieu of legislation to amend the election law, dropping the deadline element and allowing the late delivery of polling materials where logistical problems had been encountered.
Election Supervisory Committee member Rozy Munir urged the KPU to make sure that ballot papers reached their destinations on time.
"Although they will face no sanctions for late delivery, we expect them (KPU) to send the polling materials on time," he said.