KPU launches new computer counting system
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta
The General Elections Commission (KPU) unveiled on Sunday a more advanced, more secure computerized vote counting system for the presidential election but said it could not predict how quickly the system would deliver preliminary poll results.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin said he expected the system would be able to deliver the results of the ballot counting quickly and without any serious problems.
"But don't expect too much. It's a man-made system and there's always the possibility of failure," he said.
KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah warned severe penalties awaited people caught attempting to hack into the system.
"This is about (the security of) state data," she said.
The older version of the system was hacked into by a university student during the legislative election in April.
KPU information technology division deputy head Mayong Haryono said commission IT experts had made several modifications to tighten the system's security.
"We have developed a multi-layered system to protect our database. Hackers could still disrupt the display on our website. But we expect to be able to fix it within 30 minutes," he said.
The KPU will start the electronic ballot counting system at 2 p.m. on Monday. The preliminary results of the election can be accessed on the World Wide Web at www.kpu.go.id.
The KPU has not set any target time for when the first preliminary results of the polls would appear.
Balloting is set to start at 7 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. in all polling stations nationwide. However, as many as 15,000 volunteers across the country are not expected to send the results of the election to Jakarta for verification before 4 p.m.
The KPU has installed computers in more than 4,700 of the 5,000 districts across the country for data collection purposes. However, more than 150 subdistricts are not connected to the computerized tabulation as electricity or telephone lines are not available. These local election commissions are required to send their data to Jakarta from the nearest district connected to the system.
"We predict the (election) volunteers will need only a few minutes to send the data as it is a quite simple procedure compared to the process during the legislative election," Mayong said.
The results are expected to appear shortly after on the KPU website after the commission verifies the legality of the data.
"If everything runs well, we expect to collect some 50 percent of the total number of votes by July 7," Mayong said. The ballot count would be updated every hour, he said.
The KPU's electronic data processors are able to receive data from 700 districts at the same time.
The final count of votes is expected to be complete within 10 days after the election on Monday.
During the April 5 legislative election, the system delivered over 90 percent of the results of the election in less than 20 days. In the 1999 election, the official results came after 68 days.