Elections and the People\'s Hope

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

Officers and volunteers from the Semarang General Elections Commission (KPU) move materials for the 2019 election to districts/subdistricts from storage warehouses in the PRPP area, Semarang city, Central Java, Monday (15/4/2019). The KPU guarantees that all materials will arrive at the polling stations on time.

Tomorrow, Indonesian people will vote in large-scale and complex elections.

The elections will be large because it will involve more than 192 million voters and it will also be quite complex because it will elect a president, members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), as well as members of the House of Representatives in national, province, regency/city levels. It also involves various kinds of election materials ranging from ballot boxes, ballots, various forms and ink. Until Monday, the distribution of the election materials had run relatively smoothly.

The election materials were also delivered to areas that were hit by natural disasters last year, such as Palu in Central Sulawesi, North Lombok, and South Lampung and Banten. The people are mostly quite enthusiastic about taking part in the elections.

In the midst of the preparations to hold the general election, which will be among the largest in the world, it should be ensured that the elections be honest, fair, direct, universal, free and confidential. The credibility of the elections will determine the continuation of democratic, life.

In general, the overseas elections, which were held earlier, ran smoothly even though there were some problems in the voting process. The overseas elections were held earlier due to the delivery of the ballots back to the country for vote counting. More than 2 million people voted abroad.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

An officer with the public handling of infrastructure and facilities (PPSU) helps move materials for the 2019 election at Wijaya Kusuma Subdistrict Office, Grogol Petamburan, Jakarta, Monday (15/4/2019). Materials for the 2019 election have been sent from the District Election Committee (PPK) to the subdisrict level in the Jakarta area.

Some of these problems, among others, were the finding of marked ballots in Selangor, Malaysia. We appreciate the General Elections Commission (KPU) because it made a quick decision not to count the ballots that had been cast and to allow the elections in Malaysia to continue on Sunday. The KPU has also promised to continue to investigate the case.

In Sydney, Australia, hundreds of prospective voters could not vote on Saturday because they were not listed on the final voter list (DPT). People not on the DPT only had about an hour to carry out the process because the rented building would have to close. As the result, many of them went home without voting.

The government has given a mandate to the KPU to organize the elections with a large budget. The KPU has worked hard since the preparations until the implementation of the elections. The distribution of the election materials is only a part of the preparations for the elections. The next important task is to ensure that the process after the voting, and declaration of the winners in the elections should be transparent, credible and accountable.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Election materials are saved from puddles of water and mud in a warehouse at GOR PGRI, Ciseeng district, Bogor regency, West Java, Monday (15/4/2019). Water and mud inundated the warehouse after the walls collapsed following heavy rains in the area on Sunday (14/4/2019) evening. Officers asked the local General Elections Commission (KPU) offices to replace the damaged ballot boxes and other materials.

The people hope that tomorrow\'s election will be held peacefully and will be honest, fair, direct, universal, free and confidential. It is the duty of the election organizer to ensure that all the expectations can be fulfilled.