Indonesia votes

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 07/08/2009 11:08 AM | Headlines

More than 176 million people are eligible to vote today to decide if incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will win in

one round, or Jusuf Kalla or Megawati Soekarnoputri can push it to a second round.

All the surveys put Yudhoyono as front-runner, but many still doubt if he can get over 50 percent of the votes, which would obviate the need for a second round and authorize him to govern for another five years.

The National Election Commission (KPU) will directly release preliminary voting results based on SMS from officials at polling stations several hours after the closing of the voting, although complete and official results will only be announced at least a week after that.

A number of pollsters, including the Indonesian Survey Institute, the Indonesian Survey Circle, LP3ES, Johan Polling, and Cirrus have confirmed they will release their versions of quick counts in the afternoon through live TV programs on several TV channels including Trans TV, TV One, and Metro TV.

Just hours before the voting day, the KPU, though, was still struggling with election ballot papers and electoral roll problems after a last-minute ruling from the Constitutional Court allowing unregistered people to vote using their IDs or passports. KPU had to try to find ways to make sure that polling stations would get enough ballot papers, as the court's ruling allows more people to vote.

KPU has been under more pressure after last-ditch efforts from the election teams of Kalla and Megawati, which had a one-day window to check the KPU data bank, allegedly finding millions of registered voters with identical identities. Despite all these concerns, Indonesians will have another chance today at choosing whether the country can make it through a third, fully democratic, presidential election.

Leaders are optimistic that the country can do just that.

Yudhoyono said the entire government administration was ready to assist the KPU push through with the election after the recent Constitutional Court verdict.

"The central government and local administrations are all ready to help the KPU, in line with the regulations, to ensure that the presidential election runs under direct, public, free, secret and honest and fair principles," he said.

Earlier in the day, during a teleconference with Yudhoyono, the country's 33 governors declared their respective regions' preparedness for voting day.

Yudhoyono further said the police and military personnel had been deployed across the regions to safeguard the election.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna echoed his optimism, saying that the election would be well secured as the police have deployed 246,034 officers throughout the country and had another 14,000 officers at the ready at the National Police headquarters.

"These officers are on call. Thus whenever the security situation heats up and the officers in the field are lacking personnel then these officers are ready to move," Nanan said. He added the military also provided 24,000 back up personnel.

He said the police would focus on securing each polling station as they realized that polling stations could be prone to inappropriate actions.

Religious leaders also threw their weight behind the election, calling on all eligible voters to exercise their right to vote on Wednesday and the KPU to stay neutral in the election.

"We call on all eligible voters to exercise their political rights in freedom with full responsibility. The citizens who are not listed in the electoral roll could also show the ID and family cards to vote," the interfaith leaders said in its statement read by Din Syamsuddin.

All eyes now lay upon the KPU.

The commission had set up a distribution method for extra ballot papers between polling stations to compensate for possible increases in the number of voters, following the Constitutional Court's decision.

Furthermore, KPU Chief Abdul Hafiz Anshary said the recent findings by teams of Kalla and Megawati of registered voters under identical identities had been faxed to the KPU's regional polling bodies (KPUD) and the Polling Station Working Committees (KPPS), reassuring the public that their political rights would be rightly served.

"Arrive safely in the polling stations. Bring all the necessary documents and vote for the best president and vice president that you believe are fit for the job."