Sticker short for Buton refugees may delay poll
Sticker short for Buton refugees may delay poll
By Jupriadi
BUTON, Southeast Sulawesi (JP): Elections may have to be
delayed here after the elections committee reported a lack of
40,000 hologram stickers for ballot papers. The lack of stickers
is only one problem caused by a sudden influx of refugees who are
eligible to vote.
Tens of thousands of Maluku islanders have fled to Buton
island following the loss of their kin, possessions and homes in
communal clashes in their villages since January.
The head of the regional elections committee, Ambo Sakka, told
The Jakarta Post on Friday that 96 percent of eligible voters, or
26,910 residents, had registered, before the General Election
Commission decided to extend the registration period for Buton.
When registration reopened it was discovered that 25,000 out
the 50,878 refugees were eligible voters, raising the problem of
the lack of polling material.
The committee is concerned because without the hologram
stickers tens of thousands of ballot papers would be declared
invalid.
Eighty percent of 690 polling places will be located
on islands only accessible by sea.
"Things will get out of hand if the hologram stickers arrive a
day before polling day," Ambo said.
To anticipate this, the committee has sent a courier to
Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province, to seek news
from the General Election Commission in Jakarta.
The committee has also asked the commission whether ballot
papers without hologram stickers would be considered valid given
the emergency. But Ambo said he did not expect to receive a
positive reply.
Apart from the lack of the stickers, the regional committee
has also reported a lack of ballot papers and ink.
The election law allows a 30-day poll delay in any given area.
The government has indicated polls may be delayed in volatile
regions in Aceh province.
"I think it is better to delay the poll here because of all
the shortcomings," Ambo said. It would take time to distribute
the additional materials to all polling places.
Two branches of private poll watchers here, the Independent
Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) and the Election Monitoring
Committee of the Association of Muslim Students (KPP-HMI), blamed
the problem on lack of responsibility of the elections committee
here.
"The problem of refugees is not new," M. Husni Ganiru,
coordinator of KPP-HMI, said. Refugees poured in shortly after
the violence erupted in January.
"If the poll is delayed, it would only be because the
committee has not been proactive in anticipating the problem."