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Jakarta Post

City sees high turn out for presidential election

At 7:55 a

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Thu, July 9, 2009

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City sees high turn out for presidential election

At 7:55 a.m. on Wednesday, Sri, a resident of South Jakarta’s Lenteng Agung subdistrict, left her kitchen and rushed to a nearby polling station.

The 45-year-old housewife wanted to cast her vote as early as possible as she was planning to cook special meals for some relatives who would visit her in the afternoon.  

However, upon arriving at the polling station, Sri was surprised to see almost 100 people already lined up at the registration desk.

“Well, it seems like I have to be here longer than I expected,” she said. Government officer Mukti Wibowo, 25, who lives in Pancoran, South Jakarta, was luckier.

Arriving at a polling station at 9 a.m., Mukti, who works for the Directorate General of Taxation, said it took just 5 minutes for the polling officer call his name.   

Although he does not have a Jakarta ID, Mukti, who has worked in the city for more than three years, said he had not seen any problems with people trying to vote in the presidential election.  

“The head of community group [RT] has helped me and three other workers from my boarding house who don’t have Jakarta IDs get our names listed on the electoral roll.”   

The Jakarta Regional Elections Commission (KPUD) registered more than 7.5 million citizens vote in Wednesday’s election, a 9.1 percent increase from April’s legislative elections.

While some eligible voters were still not on the official electoral role, they were able to vote after a ruling  Monday by the Constitutional Court that said voters could cast a ballot as long as they could show their neighborhood ID and family card.

For the presidential election, the KPUD reduced the number of polling stations in the city to 12,500, meaning each one could accommodate a maximum of 800 voters.

As less than 60 percent of city’s registered voters cast a ballot in the legislative elections, an increasing in participation for the presidential election was expected.

Suwardi, head of a polling station working committee (KPPS) in Senen subdistrict, Central Jakarta, said he was glad to see more residents come to his polling station.

“As of 11:30 a.m., I have seen more than 75 percent of the 596 registered voters come to cast their vote,” he said.  

Polling stations were open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Chief. Brig. Sutrisno shared Suwardi’s optimism.    

Assigned to guard the election process at five polling stations in Kemanggisan sub district, West Jakarta, he said he was happy that not a single conflict arose.

“But I have to keep awake up to midnight until all five polling stations submit their results to the district polling committee,” he said.

Wednesday’s election turned the routinely crowded Jakarta into an unusually quiet city.

The Jakarta Traffic Management Center (TMC) reported that almost all the city’s main thoroughfares,

including Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, and Jl. Gatot Subroto and Jl. TB Simatupang in South Jakarta, were virtually deserted.  

In the spirit of democracy, several companies have special offers  aimed at showing appreciation to those who voted.

Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta offered a 50 percent discount to city residents who could show an ink-stained finger. At Starbucks, the ink-stained finger was worth a free cafe latte, a promotion that kept employees of the coffee chain busy all day. (hwa)

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