JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Maintaining the purity of voters\' voices is the primary focus in the vote recapitulation for the 2019 election. Amid the incomplete district-level recapitulation, the authenticity of two recently discovered boxes containing thousands of C1 forms (vote tabulation) has not been confirmed.
Central Jakarta Police discovered thousands of C1 forms in a car on Sunday (5/5/2019). The C1 forms, which originated from the Central Java V electoral district (Boyolali, Klaten, Sukoharjo, Solo), were handed over to the Central Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).
"Regarding the alleged C1, [Bawaslu] has not been able to ascertain whether they are genuine or fake," Bawaslu chairman Abhan said on Sunday.
Puadi of the Jakarta Bawaslu explained that the two boxes containing thousands of C1forms were discovered when police stopped a car during a vehicle registration operation in Menteng, Central Jakarta. The two boxes were discovered in the car and were found to contain thousands of the C1 forms after they were examined.
Puadi said that the Central Jakarta Bawaslu was immediately asked to investigate the C1 forms, including the possibility of election fraud. The Jakarta Bawaslu was coordinating with the Bawaslu in Central Java, where the forms originated.
Recapitulation
The lengthy discussion on the C1 forms was the main reason for the tough KPU plenary meeting on the recapitulation of the overseas polls.
During the nearly nine-hour meeting on Sunday, the results of the four Overseas Elections Committees (PPLN) in Hong Kong, Tokyo (Japan), Bandar Sri Begawan (Brunei Darussalam) and Singapore were discussed. Of the four PPLNs, the KPU postponed the vote recapitulation for the PPLN Tokyo due to inaccuracies in the data.
Bawaslu data on the domestic polls showed that 171 District Election Committees (PPK) still had not completed their recapitulation by the district-level recapitulation deadline of May 4. The data was compiled from 376 regencies/municipalities, while other regencies/municipalities were in the process of submitting their documents.
The Bawaslu’s Rahmat Bagja said the slow recapitulation at the district level was due to the PPK, district supervisors and witnesses making many adjustment or corrections. At least 307 districts had to repeat the recapitulation.
The PPK Matraman in East Jakarta was one district-level committee that was still completing its vote recapitulation on Sunday afternoon. The latest data on May 4 showed that 480 out of a total 499 district-level polling stations had completed the vote recapitulation. "We want to finish them today," the PPK Matraman’s Afdal Zikri said on Sunday.
The KPU’s Ilham Saputra said that he had issued a circular to overcome the delay in district-level recapitulation. Dated May 3, 2019, the circular was addressed to the chair of the Aceh province KPU/Independent Election Commission (KIP) and the KPU/KIP heads in regencies and municipalities. The circular includes mention that the PPKs must complete their recapitulation before the recapitulation at the regency/municipal level is completed.
It also urges regency/municipal KPUs to coordinate with regency/municipal Bawaslu in order to accelerate the recapitulation in districts that were facing problems. The coordination aimed to involve more than four panels in conducting the recapitulation.
According to KPU Regulation No. 7/2019 on the schedule for the stages, programs and implementation of the 2019 election, the district-level recapitulation is set for April 18 to May 4, while the regency/municipal-level recapitulation is to run from April 20 to May 7. The provincial-level recapitulation is set for April 22 to May 12, while the national and overseas recapitulation is to run from April 25 to May 22.
Supervisors
Association for Elections and Democracy researcher Fadli Ramadhani said that the delay in the district-level recapitulation was predictable, because the number of polling stations and ballot boxes had increased, but the number of PPK officials had not.
Fadli further said that the role of independent supervisors must be optimized during the recapitulation in order to maintain the integrity of votes. "A recapitulation that races against deadline is very likely to have an impact on correctness and accuracy," he said.
By 10:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, the KPU’s vote count information system (Situng) showed Joko Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin with 56.3 percent of the vote and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno with 43.7 percent. The data was compiled from 548,805 of 813,350 polling stations, or 67.47 percent of all polling stations. (INK/JOG/FLO/MTK/SAN)