Khalid Syaifullah, the chief of a KPPS in Kuranji district in Padang, West Sumatra, told The Jakarta Post that neither he nor his team had slept in 29 hours as they had to finish counting votes and complete an election report.  

“I haven’t slept a minute ever since I arrived at the polling station yesterday at dusk,” Khalid said on Thursday morning. “Hopefully we will able to finish the report and submit it to the district election committee [PPK] by 11 a.m.,” he said. 

This is not the first time Syaifullah has carried out such an important task. The 40-year-old has carried out tasks for the KPPS  since the New Order regime.

The general election marked the world biggest one-day election. More than 190 million Indonesians are estimated to have voted at more than 800,000 polling stations across the country, with 5 million people manning the polling stations to count and report the election results.  

According to Syaifullah, among obstacles in counting and reporting the election results were the difficulties incurred while checking the ballots. Some voters, Syaifullah said, had not punctured the ballot properly so the mark was not visible, which resulted in committee members having to check each ballot thoroughly to avoid mistakes.

Another obstacle was counting the legislative votes as a vote tally document consisted of 20 sheets.

In the polling station that Syaifullah coordinated, which had 138 voters, the vote counting started at 2 p.m. and ended at 11 p.m. Each vote was tallied on the form.

Hasanah, the head of a KPPS in Ciomas district in Bogor, West Java, said in this year's general election, the vote counting process took longer time than in the 2014 general election because it involved more ballots. Five years ago, people went to polling stations on separate days to vote for presidential and legislative candidates. 

Her group completed counting at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, 16 hours after the election, far longer than in 2014 when the counting was completed before midnight on election day. 

"It became more difficult to see the mark on the ballots later at night as we got sleepy. Completing the election report was also complicated," she said, adding that her team had worked through the night a day before the election carrying out preparations. 

In Batam, Riau Islands, many KPPS officials had to work through the night owing to delays in ballot box and ballot deliveries at 500 polling stations in five districts. 

Tiur Boru Napitupulu, a KPPS member in Bengkong district, said she had assisted at the polling station from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. local time, with little pay.  

“We also had to face voters who complained because they did not receive their ballots and were unable to vote on time,” Tiur said on Thursday.

Tiur also said she had yet to receive payment, even though the election had ended. 

According to Tiur, the staff will receive Rp 500,000 (US$ 35.54) for their work.

“Perhaps we will receive extra pay because we worked overtime,” Tiur said.

Hasanah said she hoped those elected were trustworthy and willing to serve the people, so that the work of millions would not be wasted. 

"We don't really need better pay or anything. It's enough that the leaders do their job. There's a sense of pride in seeing the election go well," she said.   

-Fadli also contributed to the story from Batam

Popular

To my horror, it’s just a movie!

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Pentagon chief congratulates Prabowo on being elected President