B

uleleng Police are committed to tighten security during the revote in the Bali gubernatorial election at TPS 3 polling station in Bungkulan village, Sawan district in Buleleng, north Bali, on Wednesday.

One community control team (Dalmas) will be deployed around 400 meters from the polling station to safeguard the revote, while two police officers have been tasked with supervising the process at the polling station.

'We will provide extra security to prevent any possible conflicts during the day. However, we will not deploy too many police personnel, which would possibly make people feel uncomfortable,' Buleleng Police chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Beny Ardjanto, said on Tuesday.

The revote at TPS 3 is being held following the chaotic voting process on election day, May 15. On that day, a resident of Bungkulan, Gede Bagiada, in cooperation with a member of the local election committee (KPPS), was allegedly found to have cheated in the voting process, apparently including a hundred unauthorized voting cards in the voting box.

There were 6,000 polling stations across Bali for the gubernatorial election, only one of which is conducting a revote. Ardjanto admitted thousands of police personnel would be ready to secure the regency if any conflict occurred.

The election has been a head-to-head 'battle' placing incumbent deputy governor AA Ngurah Puspayoga and his running mate Dewa Sukrawan, who are endorsed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), against incumbent governor Made Mangku Pastika and Ketut Sudikerta, who are supported by a coalition of nine political parties under the Bali Mandara coalition, including the Golkar and the Democratic parties.

As one of the traditional bastions of the PDI-P, Buleleng had been identified as the main 'hot-zone' in the election. Bungkulan village is the home of PDI-P-endorsed deputy governor candidate Sukrawan.

Kadek Cita Ardana Yudi from the Buleleng General Election Commission (KPUD Buleleng) told The Jakarta Post that the revote would be held using the same mechanism as on the original election day. The polling booth will open from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. for 538 eligible voters.

'We will deliver the ballot papers early in the morning,' Cita said.

The local election committee has also appointed new KPPS staff to work for the revote to ensure neutrality. 'We have trained the new staff so that they can do their best for the revote,' he said. The head of Bali Supervisory Election Committee (Panwaslu Bali), Made Wena, said that the committee would tightly supervise the revote process in Bungkulan. 'We hope that the revote will run smoothly so that the vote count could complete on schedule,' said Wena.

KPUD Bali is scheduled to complete the vote count on May 25 at the earliest.