Jointly Overseeing the Counting of the Vote

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

The Civil Society Alliance for Humanity shows support for the General Elections Commission (KPU) in front of the KPU office, Jakarta, on Monday (22/4/2019). Besides giving support to the KPU during the 2019 general election, which is currently entering the counting stage, the alliance also invited the public to avoid conflict and end tensions during the election

As maintaining the legitimacy of the 2019 election is the duty of all parties, the vote count of the election, which is held manually and in stages, needs to be jointly monitored.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Supervision of the vote count process for the 2019 election is the duty of all parties. Attempts to prevent mistakes or fraud in the process are far more useful than mutually raising narratives of distrust on the results and the election organizers.

The vote count process is carried out in stages in districts, regencies/cities, provinces and at the national level. On May 22, 2019, this process must be completed at the national level. The stages of the entire process at each level involve representatives of the General Elections Commission (KPU), General Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), as well as witnesses from 2019 elections participants, including on the sides of the presidential candidates, vice-presidential candidates, candidates for members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and political parties.

In addition to tiered manual calculations, through the Situng online page, the KPU also provides quick information based on copies of C1 forms or vote count results at the polling station level. As of Wednesday (24/4/2019) at 10:00 p.m., KPU Situng data showed that the candidate pair Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin received 55.85 percent of the vote, while Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno received 44.15 percent. The data was obtained from votes from 249,707 polling stations or 30.7 percent of the total of 813,350 polling stations.

The KPU Situng data has been a subject of discussion by internet users on social media. Some errors in entering data into Situng, even though it was immediately corrected, are often considered by internet users as a form of cheating. In fact, the official vote count is done manually, separate from the data presented by KPU Situng.

KOMPAS/INGKI RINALDI

A member of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Ilham Saputra (left), on Monday (22/4/2019) receives flowers and support from a number of national figures who are members of the Civil Society Alliance for Humanity in front of the KPU Building in Jakarta. The action undertaken with the theme "Returning to Become Indonesia" was an expression of appreciation for the KPU in carrying out its duties and inviting all elements of society to wait for the official results of the vote counts of the 2019 elections to be determined by the KPU.

Regarding the rising flow of accusations, the government, through the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister, asked the public not to believe the accusations and not be provoked into carrying out movements that disrupt national peace and security. Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said in Jakarta on Wednesday that allegations of fraud and conspiracy aimed at the government, the KPU and Bawaslu were slanderous and unfounded.

"The accusations of fraud are even a way of delegitimizing the government and election organizers, including the election process, which is currently in the vote counting stage," Wiranto said after a closed meeting at the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister. The meeting was also attended by Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo and Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko.

Wiranto also emphasized that the election organizers had succeeded in holding the election, which is the most complex in the world, safely, smoothly and peacefully. Appreciation even came from representatives of 33 friendly countries who participated in monitoring the election.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

The chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Arief Budiman (second left), accompanied by KPU commissioners (left to right) Evi Novida Ginting Manik, Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi and Viryan, attends a session about the election organizer\'s code of ethics with the Election Organizers Honorary Council (DKPP) in Jakarta on Wednesday (24/4/2019). Arief Budiman and Evi Novida Ginting, in their capacities as chairman and member of the KPU, were reported to the DKPP by Moch Ojat Sudrajat S. Ojat regarding alleged violations of the code of ethics for the recruitment of members of the KPU in Lebak regency.

Joint supervision

A KPU member, Wahyu Setiawan, asked the community to jointly monitor the 2019 election, including the several stages of counting the vote. Wahyu emphasized that the process of counting votes in districts, regencies/cities, provinces and at the national level must be monitored by the entire community. Thus, potential errors and violations can be prevented.

According to Wahyu, from the voting and counting of the votes, the KPU gave the community the opportunity to participate. "The KPU realizes that the more people who participate, the better the quality of the elections will be," he said.

Meanwhile, the director of volunteers of the National Winning Body (BPN) of Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno, Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, appreciated the steps taken by those who independently collected tens of thousands of photos of C1 forms (the results of the votes at polling stations) and submitted them to the BPN.

Ferry said that the level of community participation was very high in monitoring the election. After executing their voting rights on polling day, April 17, the community also consciously wanted to oversee the journey of the vote counting to completion.

Despite the debate, victory claims and widespread accusations of fraud in the election, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also the chairman of the steering committee of the national campaign team of Jokowi-Amin, said he believed that the election would end peacefully.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

A voter dips a finger into ink after executing voting rights during a repeat vote at one of 71 polling stations in Cempaka Putih subdistrict, East Ciputat district, South Tangerang, on Wednesday (24/4/2019). The repeat voting was conducted because during the April 17 election there were two people from outside the area who voted without using the A5 forms.

A political researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Firman Noor, said that the supervision, which is now being carried out by each election participant through the joint uploading of copies of C1 forms and distribution of witnesses for the vote counting process, was necessary.

"The key is in the elite. If you just say there is a problem, that is something that is natural in the supervising process, since there are several aspects of poor management. However, do not then let the community be confronted. This could trigger a prolonged conflict that can delegitimize the elections and exacerbate divisions in the community," he said. (EDN/INK/MTK/INA)