No more election delays after Tuesday: KPU

No more election delays after Tuesday: KPU

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Ambon/Kupang

The General Elections Commission (KPU) said on Monday the last
poll would take place in Paniai regency in Papua on Tuesday, four
days behind the April 9 deadline due to transportation problems.

KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the late voting would
be held in four polling stations, with the ballot counting
expected to be completed on Wednesday.

"The election there will occur very late as ballot papers
could not reach the regency on Friday because of the absence of
flights on Good Friday. On Saturday, the ballot papers could not
be transported due to bad weather, while on Sunday, there was no
flight again in observance of Easter," he said.

Papua, the easternmost province in the country is
predominantly Christian. Paniai is located at the foot of
Jayawijaya mountain range, some 600 kilometers southwest of the
provincial capital of Jayapura.

But Papua Provincial Elections Commission (KPUD) secretary
Hasyim Sangaji said the delayed voting would also take place in
some polling stations in Bintang Mountain regency and Merauke
regency on Tuesday.

Logistical problems have been the cause of most delays with
the exception of four polling stations in Okaba district in
Merauke, the country's easternmost town which borders Papua New
Guinea. Voting could not take place on April 5 after an attack on
poll committee members. A police officer was killed in the
attack, which was blamed on the Free Papua Organization (OPM)
rebel group.

Ramlan said polling stations that held staggered elections
should complete the ballot counting as soon as possible, so that
the KPU could meet the target of announcing the election results
on April 30 at the latest.

"However, our internal target is to complete the manual ballot
counting on April 25 at the latest," he said.

Some 1,100 polling stations in 17 provinces from a total of
585,218 polling stations were unable to open for voters on April
5 mostly due to the absence of ballot papers.

Meanwhile, the Maluku Provincial Elections Commission (KPUD)
decided to conduct an election rerun on Wednesday in two polling
stations in West Southeast Maluku regency after a local polling
station head and a local district head were found to have rigged
the votes.

Maluku KPUD member, Matheos George Lailossa, said on Monday
that the decision was made after the KPUD and local election
supervisory committee (Panwaslu) investigated a report filed by
18 political parties over the manipulation.

The investigation over the weekend found that the polling
station head and the district head punched ballot papers fore
Golkar Party on behalf of a number of voters. They are both being
detained at the Larat Police precinct.

KPUD Maluku has provided 600 ballot papers for the revote in
the two polling stations, Lailossa told The Jakarta Post.

Separately in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Police are hunting
down a group of people who stole the report of ballot counting
from 10 polling stations kept in West Amarasi subdistrict
administration office.

Johan Neparasi, who guards the office, said the documents were
stolen over the weekend, when the office was empty in observance
of Easter.

However, the head of the Kupang elections commission, Jhon
Tiran, denied the report, saying the documents had been submitted
by the subdistrict administration office to the KPU on Saturday
evening.

Besides the delay in the poll, Ramlan said the KPU would give
voters a final chance to register for the July 5 presidential
election. Registration can be done with neighborhood community
(RT/RW) leaders or village administration officials from April 25
to May 10.

KPU will announce the temporary list of eligible voters from
May 11 to May 18 to enable people to verify the list before the
final roster is announced on May 25.