The East Java Provincial Police are set to closely monitor and increase security at the polling stations for the East Java General Elections Commission (KPUD) in an effort to avoid vote rigging and party conflicts during the vote tally, a senior officer said.
East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Herman S. Sumawiredja stressed that police, the KPUD and the election supervisory committee (Panwaslu) must maintain neutrality.
Both KPUD and Panwaslu were also expected to execute their jobs accurately and professionally in order to maintain credibility and develop a true democracy in the province.
"There were some 27,000 police officers deployed in all districts to maintain security and order on voting day, Tuesday," he said Saturday.
"The officers are also to ensure that vote counting by staff at the polling stations and the vote tally at the district, regency and municipality levels as well as at KPUD are conducted accurately.
"So far no manipulations have been found."
The second round of the gubernatorial election saw Khofifah Indar Parawansa and running mate Mudjiono (Kaji) with a narrow lead, of only 1 to 2 percent, against contenders Soekarwo and partner Saifullah Yusuf (Karsa).
Herman said all parties but primarily the two rival governor hopefuls should trust KPUD in counting the votes which was being closely monitored by Panwaslu and was being witnessed by their own official representatives and campaign teams.
"Such a procedure will not give either side an opportunity for manipulating the voting process or for any vote rigging," he said.
The East Java KPUD has been under pressure to conduct the vote tally accurately, with many public figures -- including Acting Governor Setia Purwaka -- saying that quick-count results would not be accepted by the two camps in this second round.
Separately, executive director of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) Syaiful Mudjani said that despite the institute's survey indicating Khofifah's slim victory, he could not determine the election's winner because of the small difference between the two candidates' tallies.
"We will rely on manual vote counting conducted by the KPUD," he said as quoted by Antara.
Chairman of the Ulema National Awakening Party (PKNU) Choirul Anam, who is also a supporter of Khofifah, had called on the KPUD to probe into a number of vote riggings, including the markup counting which had happened at a polling station in Rejomulyo, Kartoharjo, Madiun.
Meanwhile, the two rival governor hopefuls were each claiming victory, with Soekarwo's campaign team claiming that the Karsa pair, nominated by the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party (PD), had won 51.48 percent of the votes and the Kaji pair only 48.52 percent.
Secretary of Soekarwo's campaign team Anna Luthfi said the final result had been based on the recapitulation of votes from the team's staffers who were equipped with cellular phones.
The Kaji pair was nominated by the United Development Party (PPP) and supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Kaji's campaign team claimed the pair had won 51.02 percent or 8 million votes while the Karsa pair only 48.98 percent or 7.7 million votes.
According to survey agents, 46 percent of the 29.2 million eligible voters did not exercise their voting rights due to poor administration and their disgust toward both candidates who they claimed had not made comprehensive concepts or any concrete programs that would change the province in the coming five years.
