Indonesia ready and waiting for historic elections

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Makassar/Pekanbaru

Indonesia is putting the finishing touches on preparations for the historic presidential election runoff on Monday, and the country appears ready for the polls despite some minor glitches.

The excitement was already building on Saturday, with residents of neighborhood units around the country erecting polling stations.

There was a slight increase in the number of passengers at Pulogadung bus terminal in North Jakarta, as people returned to their hometowns to cast their votes.

The government has announced that Monday is a national holiday, to give all eligible voters a chance to make it to the polls. At least 153 million people have registered for the runoff, which will pit Megawati Soekarnoputri against Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

General Elections Commission (KPU) member Anas Urbaningrum, said on Saturday election materials had reached all 567,000 polling stations across the country.

"Everything is ready. We are now waiting for the vote on Monday," Anas said.

The polls are expected to close at 1 p.m. on Monday, although it is possible that individual polling stations will close earlier if all of the voters registered with the stations in question have already cast their votes.

In the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, local KPU head Aidir Amin Daud promised the voting on Monday would take place without incident despite a threat from some poll committee members to go on strike for more money.

"God willing, the vote will run smoothly. All of the materials such as ballot papers, ink and forms have arrived at all of the polling stations," he said.

He said budget constraints prevented his office from paying poll committee members more money. He added that the governor had ordered regents and mayors to assist the KPU should the strike take place.

The local KPU in Riau also said it had completed the preparations for Monday's polls, including paying poll committee members.

"We have distributed all of the ballot materials to all of the polling stations here, and finished the training 14,000 poll committees members," Riau KPU head Raja Sofyan Samad said.

He said he had instructed all poll committee members to do everything in their power to prevent any clashes between supporters of the two presidential candidates.

In the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak, local KPU head Aida Mochtar said his office was prepared for heavy rains and possible flooding that could disrupt the polls, as occurred during the first round of the presidential election in July.

"Most of the poll stations are now located inside to avoid any disruptions," she said

Much of the province has experienced heavy rains over the past week.

The head of East Java's KPU office, Wahyudi Purnomo, expressed concern that rain could disrupt the vote counting in remote areas.

Wahyudi said his office had prepared 400 fishing boats to carry ballot papers from Bawean island to the mainland, and cars to transport ballot papers from polling station located in mountainous and coastal areas.

In Palu, Central Sulawesi, district poll committees in East Palu and West Palu said some polling stations under their supervision had yet to receive all of their ballot papers.

In Lubuk Linggau, South Sulawesi, 783 first-time voters complained that they had not received their voter cards, although local poll officials have told the voters they will still be able to cast their ballots. Normally, people who cannot produce their voter cards are not allowed to vote.