Watchdog holds last poll rehearsal

JAKARTA (JP): The Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP) staged its last poll rehearsal with about 70 participants, mostly students, at Proclamation Monument in Central Jakarta on Sunday.

"We hope the participating students will inform their friends about this exercise," said Muflizar, coordinator of the program and also KIPP's Monitoring Division chairman.

The program, he said, was intended to assess whether the rehearsal was in line with a regulation issued by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

"It's also designed to examine the poll watchdog's procedures in monitoring the polls.

"We have set certain procedures on poll monitoring, and now we are verifying them," he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the event.

The poll monitoring group will evaluate the rehearsal. The results will be used as guidance for its members to monitor the polls, he added.

Prior to Sunday's program, KIPP held two similar rehearsals last month at private National University and Jayabaya University here.

Sunday's event started at 11 a.m. and ran to 1 p.m. The participants followed KIPP's instruction on observing how to cast ballots.

Some students made significant mistakes while completing the ballot form.

Iwan Setiawan, a senior high school student, said he now understood how to vote in next month's elections.

"I hope I won't be clumsy while filling the ballot," he added. (01)