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Indonesian poll body cancels electronic system to tally votes in December
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A General Elections Commission (KPU) official holds up samples of the ballots that will be used during the December regional elections during a simulation of the event held at the KPU compound in Central Jakarta on July 22. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he General Elections Commission (KPU) has called off its plan to use an electronic vote recapitulation (e-recap) system to help determine the winners of the 2020 simultaneous regional elections following objections from lawmakers.
The poll body failed last week to secure approval from lawmakers to issue a new KPU regulation to replace the manual recapitulation system with e-recap in all regions holding the Dec. 9 elections to help election authorities tally the final votes.
Under the existing 2016 law on regional elections, the KPU is obliged to consult with House of Representatives Commission II overseeing home affairs in devising regulations.
“Unfortunately, lawmakers did not approve our plan [to use the e-recap system for the elections],” KPU commissioner Evi Novida Ginting Manik said on Sunday.
The House's rejection stemmed from concern that the e-recap system would be difficult to implement in regions with poor internet infrastructure and that not every election officer was familiar with digital technology. Lawmakers said it would only undermine the quality of the elections and their final results.
In the six-hour meeting with the House last Thursday, the KPU failed to convince lawmakers that the digital divide would not be an issue, even after it presented findings that the new digital system “ran properly” during trials in some 746 polling stations that started in August.
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