ELECTION LOGISTICS MUST BE PROCURED ON TIME: ACTIVIST

Jakarta, Dec 19 (ANTARA) - Logistics for the general elections next year, particularly ballot papers, must be prepared on time in order that the election proceedings would not be disturbed, a non-governmental organization activist said.
Secretary General of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA), Yuna Farhan, said here on Friday that the General Elections Commission (KPU) should be able to carry out the logistics procurement as scheduled, including determining the winner of project tender.
"The printing of ballot papers should have been finished in February so that they would have been distributed in March 2009," she said in a discussion on the tender of the election logistics procurement here on Friday.
The discussion was attended by SF Agustiani Tio of the Elections Supervisory Board and Hayie Muhammad of the Indonesia Procurement Watch (IPW).
Yuna said that KPU should have decided the winner of the tender for the procurement of the ballot papers in December 2008 so that the printing process would start in January 2008.
Hayie Muhammad voiced the same thing saying that if the winners of the tender had not yet been decided this month (December), the printing of the ballot papers could be delayed from the target in January.
"The ballot paper problem should be heeded because if distribution is delayed the elections may fail," he said.
The legislative elections will be held on April 9, 2009.***3***