"I was told earlier that there were concerns about the post office being closed for longer during the New Year holidays, so ballots were sent ahead of time," he remarked.
After attending the 2023 National Consolidation Meeting for the Readiness of the 2024 Election at Gelora Bung Karno, Jokowi said he entrusted the entire handling of the technical process of the issue to the KPU.
"The KPU chairman will detail the technicalities," he remarked.
Earlier, reports about the early arrival of ballots for Indonesians in Taipei, Taiwan, grabbed the public spotlight.
Coordinator of Violation Handling at the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), Puadi, explained that the postal delivery of ballots from the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) to voters should only take place on January 2-11, 2024, or 30 days before the voting day, namely on February 14, 2024.
Several presidential candidate-winning teams demanded an investigation into this incident that was considered to have eroded public trust in the KPU.
KPU Chairman Hasyim Asy'ari said his side had taken several actions over the mistake, such as declaring ballots sent to voters in Taiwan as invalid.
In its place, the KPU will send replacement ballots to PPLN in Taipei based on the number of ballots sent to voters before January 2, 2024.
Furthermore, ballots that have not been sent will be delivered according to the schedule on January 2-11, 2024.
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Translator: Andi F, Kenzu
Editor: Anton Santoso
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
