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."