Election watchdog says KPU lying
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.