KPU told to rehire KPPS members

KPU told to rehire KPPS members

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

Many members of Polling Station Working Committees (KPPS)
intimidated and coerced voters to pick for certain candidates in
the country's first ever direct presidential election on July 5,
a non-governmental organization says.

Consequently, the Society Network for Election Monitoring
(JAMPPI) urged the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Sunday
to recruit and train new KPPS members for the runoff election on
Sept. 20.

"The intimidation was both physical and non-physical. It was
carried out by KPPS members who happened to be local figures,"
JAMPPI coordinator Wahidah Suaib told a press conference here on
Sunday.

According to JAMPPI data taken from 10,875 poll stations in 29
provinces, up to 14.83 percent of the KPPS attempted to influence
or intimidate voters to choose a particular ticket.

Each polling station had one KPPS.

Some local and foreign election observers had suggested
earlier that the elections were fair, and free from any form of
intimidation.

Wahidah said the intimidation mostly occurred in remote
places.

Most KPPS members also failed to apply the correct voting
procedures during both the legislative election and the first
round of the presidential election.

At least 22.7 percent of KPPS in the 29 provinces did not
check the fingers of voters before they cast their votes to
ensure that they had not previously voted.

A total of 7.5 percent of KPPS also allowed voters to cast
their votes using other people's voter cards, while 7.3 percent
did not check the identities of voters.

Up to 11.8 percent of KPPS also failed to employ correct
administrative procedures before approving the results of the
election while 9.7 percent failed to give copies of the approved
results to witnesses for the respective presidential tickets.

"Their mistakes might be because they did not obtain
sufficient training from the central KPU. It might also be
because the members of the KPPS were not neutral themselves,"
said Wahidah.

She said the questionable neutrality of some KPPS members was
due to an unfair recruitment system, with the members being
selected by village chiefs.

"Most of the village heads are partisan. Therefore, we would
urge the KPU to allow village councils to reselect the KPPS
members," Wahidah suggested.

JAMPPI said that the failure of the KPPS to do their jobs
properly might affect the ballot counting to the benefit or
detriment of particular tickets.

Wahidah said that the KPU still had time to select and train
new KPPS members based on a fair recruitment system before the
second round of the presidential election on Sept. 20.

"Credible and professional KPPS are essential for ensuring the
success of the election," she commented.

There were more than 570,000 polling stations across the
country, with each KPPS consisting of 7 members.