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Fears grow over voting day chaos
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Fit to vote: General Elections Commission volunteers join residents in a marathon to raise awareness about the April 17 elections in Malang, East Java, on Sunday. (The Jakarta Post/Aman Rochman)
L
ess than 10 days to go before the 2019 simultaneous presidential and legislative elections, observers and local election officials have expressed worry over potential chaos on election day.
Dubbed the most complicated single-day election in the world, millions of voters will go to over 800,000 polling stations across the country on April 17 to cast their votes for president, House of Representatives, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and provincial and municipal-level Regional Legislative Councils (DPRD).
But the simultaneous nature of this year’s elections — a first for Indonesia — coupled with last minute complications from a recent Constitutional Court ruling has raised concerns over whether logistics, officials and voters will be ready on D-Day.
In Medan, North Sumatra, for example, members of the election committee in Tegal Sari subdistrict were still confused on how the vote recapitulation would work, given the five different ballot boxes that will be used.
Unlike in previous elections, the polling station voting tallies, known as C1 forms, will only be put in the presidential election ballot box, meaning that polling station committees (PPS) will only need to open one ballot box from each polling station, instead of all five.
“I have been a PPS officer for several general and regional elections, but I am still confused because the presidential and legislative elections are being held together,” Nafisah, from nearby Sukaramai subdistrict, told The Jakarta Poston Saturday.
