Parallel Recapitulation Used as a Solution

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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The General Elections Commission (KPU) is applying a parallel method through two panels to accelerate the vote recapitulation. It is not impossible for the KPU to increase the number of the panels in an effort to complete the recapitulation for the 2019 election by the deadline of May 22.The two-panel recapitulation commenced on Monday (5/6/2019) at the Jakarta headquarters of the KPU to recapitulate the results of the overseas polls. Three KPU members man each panel, along with election witnesses and representatives from the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). Meanwhile, KPU chair Arief Budiman monitors the two panels in turn.

After the panel recapitulation is completed, the results are ratified at a plenary meeting involving a quorum of at least five out of seven KPU members.

"This step will save time because the recapitulation for two PPLN (Overseas Election Committees) can run concurrently. This will accelerate the vote recapitulation," said the KPU’s Wahyu Setiawan.

Regarding the possibility of additional panels, KPU member Ilham Saputra said the commission would observe the results of the two-panel parallel recapitulation.

"We will look at the possibilities, whether the two panels are enough or not," he said.

Direct impact

Chairperson Wajid Fauzi of the Working Group (Pokja) for Overseas Elections said that having two concurrent panels directly impacted the completion rate for the recapitulation.

The vote recapitulation was completed for 11 PPLNs on Saturday, but the figure jumped on Sunday. The KPU’s data shows that the vote recapitulation was completed for 31 PPLNs by Monday night. The vote count from a total of 130 PPLNs must be recapitulated.

In accordance with KPU Regulation No. 7/2019 on election stages, programs and schedules, the recapitulation must be completed by May 5 at the district level, by May 8 at the regency/municipal level, and by May 12 at the provincial level. The recapitulation for domestic and overseas votes must be completed by May 22.

The KPU data on May 5 showed that 63.23 percent of the recapitulation had been completed at the district level, with 2,648 districts still recapitulating their vote count. Meanwhile, only 294 regencies/municipalities have finished recapitulating their vote count, and 220 regencies/municipalities have not completed the recapitulation.

On observing the delay in the district-level recapitulation, Election and Democracy Syndication (SPD) researcher Erik Kurniawan predicted that the number of completed recapitulation would accumulate towards May 22, and that the KPU needed to anticipate this. Even though two-panel parallel recapitulation could accelerate the process, he pointed out that it was vital for the KPU to maintain the quality of the recapitulation and the accuracy of the tally.

Separately, the Bawaslu’s Rahmat Bagja believed that administrative errors, whether intentional or not, had caused a shift in internal and external votes at political parties. This was discovered through the data Bawaslu had received from 376 regencies/municipalities.

According to Bagja, an initial analysis indicated 62 incidents of shifts in internal party votes, and 21 alleged incidents of shifts in external party votes.

He said that Bawaslu would wait for the matter to be resolved through the ongoing vote recapitulation. (INK/COK/NSA/FLO/SYA/AIN)

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