Vote Count Completed in 18 Provinces

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Members of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) prepare to stand guard at the General Elections Commission (KPU) office on Jl. Imam Bonjol, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday (14/5/2019). Security at the KPU office has been tightened in the lead up to the announcement of the election results.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The vote count of the 2019 elections at the national level, as of Tuesday (14/5/2019), was completed in 18 provinces out of a total of 34 provinces in Indonesia. The General Elections Commission (KPU) believes that the entire process can be completed in the remaining eight days before May 22, 2019, which is the deadline for processing for the final election results.

As of Tuesday at 10 p.m., the KPU was counting the votes from the province of South Sumatra. Before that, the KPU had completed the process for 18 provinces, namely Bali, Bangka Belitung, North Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Gorontalo, Bengkulu, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, West Sumatra, Yogyakarta Special Region (DIY), East Kalimantan, Lampung, North Maluku, North Sulawesi, Jambi, Central Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara and East Java.

Based on KPU data, the results show the total valid votes of the presidential-vice presidential election reached 55,401,410 votes. Of that number, Joko Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin got 63.89 percent (35,398,158) and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno secured 36.11 percent (20,003,252).

Amid this process, the campaign team of Prabowo-Sandiaga, the National Winning Body (BPN), held an event in Jakarta. On that occasion, Prabowo emphasized his side hoped the KPU would uphold justice and truth in the process of calculating the votes. "Yet, my stance was clear. I reject the fraudulent vote counting," he said.

Regarding the statement, the KPU called on election participants to make use of a plenary meeting to compare data.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

East Java General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioners introduce themselves at an open plenary meeting on the recapitulation of the national results of vote counting in the 2019 election at the KPU building in Jakarta on Tuesday, (14/5/2019).The national recapitulation on that day began with the DC1 reading from East Java and Jambi provinces. The election results will be announced on May 22, 2019.

Speeding up the process

There are still provinces that have not yet fully finished calculating the votes at the provincial level. The KPU extended the period for doing so at the provincial level from May 12 to May 15.

KPU member Hasyim Asy\'ari believed that the three-day extension could further encourage regions to accelerate the process. At present there are two regions that are still trying to conclude the process, namely Jakarta and Papua.

"Big provinces, such as Central Java, East Java and West Java, have been finished," Hasyim said.

The Election Law states that the election results are to be announced no later than 35 days after the vote, which in this case means May 22.

Hasyim said the dynamics of each region differed, with some parts of the country dealing with small constituencies and therefore less administrative work. Areas such as East Java, Central Java and West Java deal with more data. Therefore, no two provinces can be judged the same in how they process the votes.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner Ilham Saputra (center) shows a DC1 form from a provincial level vote count to representatives of political parties and presidential candidates at a plenary meeting on the recapitulation of the 2019 election results at the KPU building in Jakarta on Tuesday(14/5/2019).The national recapitulation on that day began with the DC1 reading from East Java and Jambi provinces. The election results will be announced on May 22, 2019.

Regarding such efforts, KPU Papua brought over KPU members from a number of districts to help accelerate the vote count.

Objections from witnesses

The vote count in East Java was marred by a number of objections from witnesses representing the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Gerindra Party. They objected to the vote count in Bangkalan regency, claiming it disadvantaged their vote gains. The objection was conveyed at the end of the reading of the results of East Java. An objection was also raised by a witness who claimed there was an unannounced change in the final voters list.

Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) chairman Abhan said his side was open to looking at any reports of possible administrative violations from witnesses who objected to the results of the counts. Ideally, there should be few data issues once data is compiled at the national level, as any inconsistencies in data should have been dealt with in stages at the district, regency/city and provincial levels.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Witnesses representing political parties and presidential candidates show signs of fatigue when attending an open plenary meeting in the recapitulation of national vote counting in the 2019 election at the General Elections Commission (KPU) building in Jakarta on Tuesday (14/5/2019). The national recapitulation on that day began with the DC1 reading from East Java and Jambi provinces. The election results will be announced on May 22, 2019.

"There are two mechanisms that can be used, namely reporting the alleged administrative violations to Bawaslu and submitting reports of electoral disputes to the Constitutional Court. Any of those reports, if they meet requirements, would be followed up on," Abhan said. (REK/INK/SAN/FLO/SEM)