Revote planned for July 25 at Al-Zaytun

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Nana Rukmana, Bandung/Indramayu

The West Java elections commission (KPUD) has decided to hold a revote at Al-Zaytun on July 25, following allegations of vote- rigging at the Islamic boarding school during the presidential election.

KPUD member Affan Sulaeman, speaking in the provincial capital of Bandung on Monday, said the election repeat had been scheduled for next Saturday but was postponed until July 25 for technical reasons.

Voter registration is due to finish on July 22 and the provincial elections commission is preparing logistics equipment such as ballot papers and boxes, as well as ink.

"We have been preparing the electoral materials since last Thursday," Indramayu's KPUD secretary Achmad Bachtiar said on Monday.

Affan could not say how many voters would cast their ballots in the planned revote. "The exact number of voters will be determined on July 22," he added.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) had earlier announced that the repeat election at Al-Zaytun must take place on July 25 at the latest, one day before it made public the final results of the July 5 presidential poll.

The alleged vote-rigging was revealed after the commission ruled that there was a procedural error in voter registration at 83 polling stations at the school.

The number of voters at Al-Zaytun -- which is located in Mekarjaya village, Gantar -- skyrocketed up to 24,818 after the mass mobilization of at least 13,235 people from outside Indramayu to cast their votes at the school on July 5.

Almost 99 percent of the voters supported the Wiranto- Solahuddin Wahid ticket.

On April 5, the date of the legislative election, only 14,310 people voted at the Southeast Asian Islamic boarding school led by A.S. Panji Gumilang.

The election commission said the mass mobilization contravened Article 71 of the election law as most of the voters did not report to polling stations in their areas of origin before registering themselves to vote at Al-Zaytun.

Affan said his office had set up a team of 15 members to assist the local poll committee to organize the revote at the school, in an effort to prevent the possibility of further irregularities.