Jakarta KPU hopes to finish counting soon

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) is still optimistic that the ballot counting can be finished in the next few days to meet its schedule, although up until now progress has been sluggish.

KPUD chairman Mohamad Taufik told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the counting process was slow but dismissed rumors that it was caused by a serious IT problem.

"We realize that the process is slow, but it is because two different forms must be filled manually by the polling station organizing committee. They must be very careful and accurate in entering the data," he said.

He said that since all data entries were already at the subdistrict level, which is equipped with computers, the counting process would be much quicker.

The KPU spent around Rp 200 billion to build the IT system, including Rp 152 billion for the procurement of computer hardware and software.

So far, the KPUD has uploaded about 51 percent of the votes counted for the Jakarta City Council (DPRD) which only offers 75 seats from a total of 6,478,005 eligible voters.

As for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), the KPUD has loaded an estimated 35.73 percent of the votes counted.

Taufik explained further that the forms only carried the legislative candidates' registration number so that data entry officers at each subdistrict must double check the candidates number and names before sending the data to the KPUD's online system.

However, the public has no access to the Jakarta KPUD website, unlike the KPU's website, due to security measures taken, according to computer personnel at Hotel Cempaka, where the KPUD is conducting the electronic ballot counting.

KPUD data as of 8 p.m. showed that the top three positions for the DPD were still dominated by the same candidates. Cosmetics businesswoman Mooryati Soedibyo remained in top place in the provisional result with 376,426 votes, leaving behind Sarwono Kusumaatmadja in second place with 367,693 votes and radio businessman Biem Triani Benyamin in third place with 290,802 votes.

The race for the fourth place between Marwan Batubara and Bambang Warih Koesoema was close with only 17,195 votes difference. Marwan led with 256,042 votes compared to Bambang with 238,847 votes.

The KPUD result also showed that the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) still dominated the DPRD ballot counting with 817,693 votes. The Democratic Party trailed second with 712,814 votes. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was far behind with 478,139 votes.