Governor satisfied with registration

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso expressed his satisfaction on Wednesday with the many Jakartans registering for the June 7 general election.

He said 65 percent of all eligible voters had registered by Tuesday.

"This is spectacular. I believe the figure is the highest compared to other provinces," he told officials of polling bodies being given funds for their operational costs.

According to the governor, the number of registrants had reached 3.65 million or 65.29 percent of the total number as of Tuesday.

However, his figure was a bit different from data from the Jakarta Provincial Elections Committee (PPD I), which recorded 3.48 million registrants, or 59.18 percent of eligible voters as of Wednesday morning, according to PPD I staffer Mulyono.

Mulyono could not explain the data disparities. "I don't know why it is different, maybe the governor takes data from other sources, like mayoralty offices. But as far as I know PPD I is the only body responsible for collecting registration data."

Sutiyoso said he was especially grateful to people involved in the poll preparations that had made good progress although they have not been paid.

"I was surprised that there have not yet been payments to these people," he said.

On Wednesday, Sutiyoso handed over Rp 3.9 billion from the city budget for the elections committees. Of this, Rp 937.75 million was for PPD I, Rp 1 billion for five Regional Elections Committees, Rp 430 million for 43 District Polling Committees (PPK), and Rp 1.59 billion for 265 Subdistrict Polling Committees (PPS).

The funds were part of Rp 10 billion allocated for the elections. (ind)