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Most regions geared up for polling day
Official seal: An election official locks a ballot box to be used in todayâs presidential election, in Petojo, Central Jakarta
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span class="inline inline-center">Official seal: An election official locks a ballot box to be used in today's presidential election, in Petojo, Central Jakarta. The Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) said Tuesday that all polling stations in the capital had received all the materials they needed ahead of the vote. JP/DON
While most regions across Indonesia have expressed their preparedness for conducting the presidential election on Wednesday, 26 districts in Yahukimo regency, Papua, confirmed they would be unable to conduct the poll on schedule as a result of logistics problems due to bad weather.
Chairman of the Papua General Elections Commission (KPUD), Adam Arisoi, said that as of Tuesday ballot materials had yet to reach 26 out of the regency's 56 districts.
'Bad weather has been the main challenge in Yahukimo, as all the materials have to be transported by plane,' Adam said on Tuesday.
He said he would report the case to the central election body on Tuesday night. The election would be held once the materials had arrived at the districts, he added.
Statements of readiness and optimism for a successful election were expressed by the Riau KPUD as materials had been distributed to the polling stations across the province's 12 regencies/municipalities under escort by the police.
'Everything ran smoothly. No significant constraints have been experienced as of the day prior to the election,' chairman of Riau KPUD, Nurhamin, said on Tuesday.
In Bali, nearly 3 million eligible voters are expected to go to polling stations (TPS) across the resort island on Wednesday to elect their favored candidates for president and vice president for the next five years.
The government has declared the day a public holiday to give all voters the chance to vote. Polling stations will open at 7 a.m. and close at 1 p.m. Many Balinese voters are expected to wear traditional Balinese costumes to go to their polling stations.
The Bali KPUD head, Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi, confirmed that all preparations for the election had been completed, and the island was ready to vote. 'All ballot papers have been distributed to all villages across Bali and will be ready for election day,' he said.
Separately the Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo-Jusuf Kalla camp have expressed worries that the noken system applied in Papua would benefit a particular presidential candidate pair. The system allows a tribe's chief to represent his people in the election.
Baharudin Farawowan of the Jokowi-Kalla camp said that 10 regencies in the Pegunungan Tengah area with a combined total of some 1.4 million voters were areas where their campaigners did not have political access. 'We're worried that there will be vote herding toward a particular ticket,' Baharudin said in Jayapura on Tuesday.
Responding, Radius Simbolon of the rival Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa camp said there was no need for concern about something that had not yet happened.
'There is nothing to worry about in the system. It's not a new thing in Papua. Why should we worry?' Simbolon said, adding that his camp never encouraged voters to vote for Prabowo-Hatta. If the pair won, he said, it would be the people's choice.
In Yogyakarta, the Jokowi-Kalla camp has offered a reward of Rp 2 million (US$172) to anyone who reports incidents of vote-buying during the election along with evidence.
'We have received a report today, but we will verify it,' Eko Suwanto of the Jokowi-Kalla campaign in Yogyakarta said on Tuesday.
He said his team had readied a legal and advocacy team to fight against electoral fraud, be it intimidation, biased reporting or defamation.
Chairman Joko Praswanto said his team had set up posts for the people to report incidents of cheating. The posts, he said, were established in all subdistricts and districts across the province.
After the Obor Rakyat tabloid which reportedly defamed Jokowi, another tabloid, Sapujagat with the headline 'Revolusi Mental? Itu Cara PKI' (Mental Revolution? It's the communist way) circulated in several regions in Central Java.
Jokowi's volunteers found thousands of copies of the Surabaya-based Sapujagat in an office of Prabowo's volunteers in Ungaran.
'It's a violation of election regulations during the cooling-off period before polling day,' Jokowi's Central Java campaign team deputy head Bondan Marutohening told reporters.
Earlier, police had named the editors of Obor Rakyat as defamation suspects. The tabloid published several articles questioning Jokowi's faith and ethnicity.
Election Stages:
July 4-6:
The overseas polling
stations voting
July 6-8:
Presidential and vice
presidential election
campaign cooling-off
July 9:
Voting and counting
(including the overseas
polling stations)
July 20-22:
Official election results
announced
July 23-25:
Submission of election
result disputes
Aug. 4-21:
Dispute settlement
process
Aug. 22-24:
Election result verified by
Constitutional Court rulings on
dispute cases
Oct. 20:
The inauguration of
the new president and
vice president
Ni Komang Erviani in Denpasar, Slamet Susanto in Yogyakarta and Suherdjoko in Semarang contributed to this story
