"It took more than 10 hours to run a polling station, from the voting process and the ballot counting to the recapitulation of all the ballots," Rustam Efendi, secretary of the KPU office in Manokwari, West Papua, said here on Friday.
Manokwari, Papua (ANTARA) - The process to elect the president, vice president, legislators and senators organized simultaneously across Indonesia on April 17, 2019, was considered exhausting because it took a long time and needed extra accuracy, according to a local election officer.

"It took more than 10 hours to run a polling station, from the voting process and the ballot counting to the recapitulation of all the ballots," Rustam Efendi, secretary of the KPU office in Manokwari, West Papua, said here on Friday. The polling stations (TPS) began to serve eligible voters at 7 a.m. local time and several TPS finished the counting process at 4 a.m., or 6 a.m. and even at 10 a.m. local time the following day.

The election officers had a tough task because they had to serve voters and finish the counting of the ballots. They only had breaks for meals, and prayer breaks for Muslims, he said.

During the simultaneous elections, voters cast ballots for five positions, namely the president and vice president, members of the House of Representatives (DPR), senators of the Regional Representative Council (DPD), members of the Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD I), and members of the District/Municipal Legislative Council (DPRD II).

Basically, election officers had to work incessantly for nearly 48 hours, as they had to arrange the logistics and facilities for the electoral process, one day prior to the polling day.

"They did not sleep well for at least two days and two nights as they were thinking about and working toward their tasks," he said.





Translator: Toyiban, Fardah
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2019