Govt makes contingency plan for elections

Govt makes contingency plan for elections

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In anticipation of the possible delay of the general election,
the government has developed a number of contingency plans, a
minister said on Thursday.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said that technical or security
problems would be the most likely cause of a change in schedule
for the elections.

The minister was responding to the National Resilience
Institute's (Lemhanas) request on Wednesday for the government to
draw up a contingency plan for the elections. Lemhanas had also
expressed concern over delays in ballot box procurement and the
printing of ballot papers.

"These kind of technical problems could hamper the whole
process of elections preparations, although a delay, if any,
would not be that drastic," Susilo said.

The legislative election is scheduled for April 5, and will be
contested by 24 political parties. The landmark direct
presidential election will follow on July 5, with a possible
runoff on Sept. 20 -- if no candidate wins the majority of votes
and manages to garner 20 percent of the votes in at least 16
provinces.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has encountered
difficulties in the production of the 2.19 million ballot boxes
required.

KPU recently appointed 18 companies to print 160 million
ballot papers, but the printing has been moved to Sunday, one
week behind the original schedule.

He said the government, KPU and the Elections Supervisory
Committee (Panwaslu) would hold a meeting next week to identify
any existing problems in the elections process.