T

he government is gearing up for the simultaneous regional elections, slated for Dec. 9 in 269 regions throughout Indonesia.

General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Arief Budiman said on Friday that preparations for the regional elections were almost done only five days before voting booths open.

'€œReports from regions indicate the situation is improving and approaching 100 percent [readiness],'€ he told reporters at the KPU office in Central Jakarta.

Production of all necessary election materials had been completed, Arief said, leaving only distribution to the district and subdistrict levels unfinished.

'€œIn terms of production [of materials], we have reached 100 percent. The distribution to regencies has reached 100 percent. The sorting and packing has also reached 100 percent. But distribution to the district and subdistrict level has only reached 61 percent,'€ he said.

However, Arief said that there was nothing to worry about as the remaining 39 percent was scheduled to be distributed in the next few days.

'€œAs for regions that are close in proximity, the logistics will be distributed on Dec. 6 or 7, but that'€™s not an issue because to distribute to the district level only takes one to two hours,'€ he said.

Arief also said that the government would fix any remaining budget issues by tomorrow at the latest.

Earlier on Monday, KPU chairman Husni Kamil Manik revealed that the election budget in 23 regions had not been fully disbursed by regency administrations. Since then, the number of regencies with funds still to be disbursed has dwindled to just three regions.

'€œWe just received confirmation this afternoon that the government had transferred the money to all three regions, except Yahukimo Regency in Papua. But the budget for Yahukimo is ready [to be disbursed] 100 percent,'€ Arief said.

According to Husni, Yahukimo'€™s budget amounts to Rp 42 billion (US$3.1 million).

Arief added that the KPU had intensified election campaigns starting from 14 days before the voting day, since the law on regional elections banned candidates from conducting open air events, large scale campaigning and big rallies.

'€œIn the past, candidates could do open campaigning and [vehicle] convoys, but now the law has banned that, as it sought to bring candidates closer to voters and encourage them to do door-to-door campaigning. They are also forbidden from campaigning in mass media, both print and electronic,'€ he said.

The KPU is aiming for a voter turnout of 78 percent, 3 percent higher than the turnout for the 2014 elections.

The KPU has said that a voter turnout of between 71 and 75 percent would be considered a success for a democratic country.

However, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) committee I speaker Akhmad Muqowam casted doubts on the ambitious target, citing recent research.

According to a University of Indonesia Center for Political Studies (Puskapol) study conducted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 6 in Depok, West Java, 44.9 percent of the 630 respondents did not know that the regional elections would be held on Dec. 9.

'€œThat study was done in Depok, the home of the country'€™s most prestigious university. Therefore, the voters there should be better informed than those in other regions. So I suspect other regions to have the same problems,'€ Akhmad said on Friday.

Arief said that since the study was done before the KPU intensified its campaigning, it did not reflect the current situation.