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Security heightened for regional elections

Security will be tight on Thursday for the regency elections taking place in Mimika, Papua, and Dairi and North Tapanuli in North Sumatra

Nethy Dharma Somba and Apriadi Gunawa (The Jakarta Post)
Timika/Medan
Thu, October 10, 2013

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Security heightened for regional elections

S

ecurity will be tight on Thursday for the regency elections taking place in Mimika, Papua, and Dairi and North Tapanuli in North Sumatra.

Papua Police chief Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian said on Wednesday that a total of 1,100 personnel would be deployed to safeguard the Mimika regency election.

Tito said the Papua Police would be deploying 350 of its officers to support 550 officers from the Mimika Police. In addition, 200 Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel will reinforce police numbers.

'€œAll 11 candidate pairs have declared that they will be contesting the election on Thursday,'€ he said.

Initially, the election was scheduled for Tuesday, but the Jayapura State Administrative Court instructed the Mimika General Elections Commission (KPUD) to verify two candidate pairs who initially failed the registration process.

In the repeat verification, both candidate pairs failed again.

The 11 candidate pairs are jostling for support from 223,470 voters who can vote at one of 568 polling stations across the regency.

Incumbent Regent Abdul Muis and his running mate, Hans Magal, are predicted to win the election, while the all-women ticket of Trifenal Tinal and Anastasia Tekege is expected to be the dark horse of the contest.

'€œBoth candidate pairs are expected to run neck-and-neck. One comprises the incumbent, while the other is a new phenomenon [in Papua], being two women candidates,'€ said Mimika resident Munawar.

Meanwhile, the regency elections in Dairi and North Tapanuli will be closely guarded as tempers have flared in both areas due to a few specific problems.

Residents in Dairi, which has a population of eligible voters totaling around 203,000, began protesting after allegations surfaced that as many as 20,000 voter numbers on the fixed voters'€™ list (DPT) were bogus.

Crowds of people have staged a series of rallies '€” some becoming violent '€” outside the Dairi KPUD, demanding the election be postponed. Last Friday and Saturday, protestors ransacked the Dairi KPUD office and set three vehicles on fire, while on Tuesday, one demonstrator suffered a gunshot wound to his leg.

There are four candidate pairs running for the top job in Dairi regency.

Dairi Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Doni Damanik said police posts would be established at each of the regency'€™s 700 polling stations. This, he explained, would double the number of police providing security for the election as, originally, only one police officer had been intended to guard two polling stations.

In North Tapanuli, several candidates have rejected the North Sumatra KPUD'€™s decision to increase the number of contesting pairs from seven to eight by adding Pinondang Simanjuntak and his running mate, Ampuan Situmeang.

The decision was made based on a ruling issued by the General Election Organizers Ethics Council in September.

The other candidate pairs said it was nonsense to include an eighth ticket, as support from political parties could only accommodate seven tickets.

North Sumatra KPUD member Benget Silitonga said the regency elections in Dairi and North Tapanuli would still be held on Thursday, despite the ongoing disputes.

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