KPU to count via videoconference
KPU to count via videoconference
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Semarang/Yogyakarta
Fearing that many provincial elections commissions (KPUD) will
fail to meet the July 20 deadline for submitting the manual vote
counting results, the General Elections Commission (KPU) said on
Monday it would collect the tally through videoconferencing.
The KPU took the decision after learning that one day before
the deadline and less than a week before it announces the final
results, only four KPUDs had managed to send the final vote
tallies.
The provinces were Bali, South Kalimantan, Jakarta and West
Kalimantan, while two more provinces -- Yogyakarta and Central
Java -- completed the manual vote counting on Monday.
KPU official overseeing the manual ballot counting Rusadi
Kantaprawira said that most KPUDs failed to submit the vote-
counting result on time due to financial constraints.
"KPUD members must come to Jakarta to submit the manual
result. However, most of them cannot afford to come. Those in the
far-flung provinces, meanwhile, had problems in finding
transportation," he told a press briefing here.
The KPU is expected to stage a videoconference from a hotel in
Jakarta from July 23 to July 25.
During the videoconference, members of the KPUDs from around
the country will take turns presenting their manual vote counting
results.
Law No. 23/2003 on presidential elections stipulates that
three weeks after the election day, the KPU has to announce a
winner and runner up of the first round of the poll if a runoff
is to be held.
As of 6 p.m. on Monday, the computerized vote tally had
collected over 105 million of an expected 155 million votes. The
figure has changed slightly in the last couple of days.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and running mate Jusuf Kalla lead the
poll with 33 percent of the vote, followed by incumbent President
Megawati and Hasyim Muzadi with 26 percent.
Golkar Party candidate Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid have not
yet conceded defeat, pending the completion of vote counting in
the country's remote regions where Golkar reigns supreme.
Manual vote counting in Central Java and Yogyakarta finished
on Monday, with Megawati and Susilo topping the standings in the
respective provinces.
A plenary meeting of Central Java KPUD endorsed the victory
for Megawati with 5,807,127 votes, followed by Susilo with
5,276,432 votes, despite a protest from a member of Wiranto's
campaign team.
Wiranto came third with 3,943,032 votes, Amien Rais and
running mate Siswono Yudohusodo fourth with 2,409,144 and Hamzah
Haz and Agum Gumelar last with 820,273 votes.
The manual ballot counting also found that almost 20 percent
of 23,233,437 registered voters in the province did not exercise
their right to vote.
In Yogyakarta, Susilo finished first with 576,012 votes to
upset pre-race favorite Amien who garnered 558,068 votes.
Megawati was third with 557,113 votes, although her Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle won the April legislative election
in the province. Wiranto came fourth with 334,067 votes, while
Hamzah collected only 28,293 votes.