Jakarta KPU hopes to finish counting soon

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.