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Komnas HAM forms election monitoring team
Monitoring is also being conducted to prevent any disturbance that could result in sociopolitical conflict.
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Officials sort and fold ballots for the 2019 polls at a General Elections Commission (KPU) warehouse at STT Mandala University in Bandung, West Java, on April 1. At least 1.7 million ballots for the city of Bandung were sorted here in one day to prevent delays in material distribution by district polling committees (PPKs). Antara/Novrian Arbi (Antara/Novrian Arbi)
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has formed a team to monitor Wednesday’s general election.
The commission previously sent teams to monitor election preparations from March 18 to 23 and found that a number of people were at risk of losing their right to vote because of administrative reasons, particularly those who lived in remote areas or were members of indigenous tribes.
"Based on our mandate and our desire to ensure that the elections go smoothly and have a positive impact on the nation’s advancement, Komnas HAM will once again monitor things from April 15 to 18,” Komnas HAM chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik said in a statement on Tuesday.
He said the team’s members had been deployed to polling stations in Jakarta, West Java, Banten, East Java, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and North Sumatra to monitor whether eligible voters were able to exercise their rights and whether there was any indication of election fraud.
“The potential for fraud by whichever side must be prevented as early as possible, including steps to delegitimize the election by certain parties,” he said. “Delegitimization would erode trust in the election results and affect public acceptance of the election results as well as the post-election political dynamics.”
He added that monitoring was also being conducted to prevent any disturbance that could result in sociopolitical conflict.
“In order to do that, the Komnas HAM monitoring team is coordinating with various parties, including national and regional KPUs [general election commissions], Bawaslu [Election Supervisory Agency], the police, NGOs, the press and public figures,” he said. (kmt)
