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ll across the country, indications of foul play have broken out like a rash during the vote tabulation phase of the election, which has seen presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto, a dismissed New Order-era Army general, refusing to concede defeat to rival Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

Quick counts from several reputable pollsters have indicated an average 5 percentage point lead in favor of Jokowi.

However, due in no small part to the tight margin, Prabowo has insisted he will wait for the official tally, which is scheduled to be announced by the General Elections Commission (KPU) no later than July 22.

Prabowo'€™s recent fiery statements, in which he has made it clear that losing is not an option, has triggered widespread suspicions that Prabowo and his supporters may utilize any and all means necessary to secure victory.

In the past couple of days, there have been increasing reports of fraud in the tabulation process in many parts of the archipelago, fueling concerns of a systematic attempt to alter the voting outcome.

While denying the existence of systematic fraud, General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Husni Malik Kamil acknowledged there had been a rising number of electoral fraud cases.

He said the majority of irregularities had occurred at polling stations.

'€œThe problems have been at the polling stations, where some voters were found to have cast ballots on behalf of others, or where illegible voters nevertheless turned up and cast their votes,'€ Husni said on Monday.

The Bekasi Regional General Elections Commission (KPUD), for example, has decided to organize a repeat vote at a polling station in Central Kaliabang subdistrict, North Bekasi, following the discovery during the vote-counting process of 30 ballot papers that had allegedly been tampered with.

'€œOur election supervisors found evidence of foul play in connection to 30 defective ballot papers from the polling station,'€ local Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) chairman Ismail Permai said.

According to Ismail, the damaged ballot papers were allegedly tampered with by seven members from local poll administrators (KPPS) to Jokowi'€™s disadvantage.

Based on eyewitness accounts, Ismail said the KPPS members allegedly made use of a nail that was surreptitiously placed on the table during the vote counting.

Before revealing a ballot paper in favor of Jokowi, one of the KPPS members allegedly pressed it against the nail so that the ballot paper had both candidates marked, rendering the vote invalid.

According to the Presidential Election Law, the seven KPPS members could face prison terms of up to three years, if prosecuted and found guilty.

Another recent case involved irregularities in votes cast by dozens of detainees undergoing due process.

Jatinegara District Polling Committee (PPK) member Maliki said that Sunday'€™s vote tabulation in his area in East Jakarta had gone smoothly, even though there were disputes between some committee members and witnesses regarding a substantial surplus of eligible voters beyond the standard 800.

According to the election law, a polling station is prohibited from having more than 800 ballot papers, including spares.

Maliki said the voter surplus was due to dozens of detainees being held at police precincts and prosecutor'€™s offices being transferred to the Cipinang detention center to cast their votes a day before election day.

'€œIn the end, the witnesses agreed to the tally while making a note of the objections, which will be raised in the regency-level polling committees,'€ Maliki said.

The recapitulation of votes for the election at the district level is due to be concluded on Tuesday.

Between July 16 and 17, the process will continue at the regency and municipal level, before proceeding to the provincial level.

The national ballot recapitulation will be held from July 20 to 22.

However, the officially tally will not guarantee an easy win for either candidate, as the result is likely to be contested by the losing party in the Constitutional Court. (tjs/put)