KPU NEEDS TO CONSIDER A NEED TO INCREASE NUMBER OF POLLING STATIONS

Jakarta, Oct.17 (ANTARA)- The General Elections Commission (KPU) needs to consider a proposal to increase the number of polling stations for the legislative election in April 2009, a KPU official said.

Andi Nurpati, the KPU official said here Friday that in principle there is no problem with time allocation for vote casting, but the problem is that the vote-counting needs a longer time.

An increase in the number of political parties joining the general elections next year, will also have to consider the time needed for the vote counting and recapitulation of its results, she said.

The simulation results of vote casting carried out in Sidoarjo (East Java), Papua and Banda Aceh (Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam) by involving 400 voters had showed the vote-counting conducted for
the House of Representatives (DPR), provincial and district legislative assemblies (DPRD), and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) lasted until 10 p.m., she said.

The problem is that after the vote counts, the vote casting officials should make copies of the vote count recapitulation to be distributed to each of the attending witnesses, Andi said.
According to her, all activities relatig to voting should be completed on the voting day.

"Thus, it is suggested that the number of permanent voters at every polling station should not exeed 350 instead of 500," she cited, noting that increasing the number of polling stations will also cause increased cost.

Apart from that, KPU should also consider increasing the number of polling booths, she added.

The number of political parties which will participate in the general elections reached 48.