KPU ADMINISTRATOR SURE VOTE-TABULATION TECHNOLOGY PROCURED LAWFULLY

Jakarta, Apr 22 (ANTARA) - General Elections Commission (KPU) Secretary General Suripto Bambang Setyadi said he was sure the procurement of information technology for the commission's electoral vote tabulation center had been carried out "through the correct procedures."

"I am sure it was done through the prescribed procedures. I have checked with our procurement committee and have not found any deviations from the procedures," Setyiadi told the press here Tuesday.
The KPU official responsible for the commission's administrative management, made the remarks in response to press questions about the information technology used in the tabulation of the results of the April 9 legislative elections which has drawn public ridicule for being frustratingly slow.
More than 10 days after the April 9 polls, the KPU's vote tabulation center at the Borobudur Hotel in central Jakarta had completed tabulating only less than 10 percent of the cast ballots.
Setyiadi said, if the tabulation process so far was considered to be too slow, it was caused by a technical problem. It was defnitely not caused by a financial problem because enough funds had been made available to set up the tabulation center, he added.
It was earlier reported the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has begun an investigation into the process followed by the KPU in procuring the technology for its vote tabulation center.
KPK Chief Antasari Azhar said his commission was collecting data on among other things the procurement of the Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) technology used by the KPU in the tabulation of the April 9 election votes.
He said the KPK had initiated the probe , among other things, because people had become suspicous about the KPU's inability to
collect the vote tallies and display the results of its tabulation effort within a reasoaable time.
The KPK's probe would cover the various procurement processes including the tenders for the tabulation technology, the data on the providers the KPU had chosen, Azhar said.
Setyadi said up till Tuesday, the KPU had not received any official notice from the KPK about the inquiry."But we will just wait. Hopefully, there will be no problem," he said.
In the same vein, KPU Chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said the KPU had so far not officially reacted to the KPK's probe but "if they want to do it, they can go ahead, it's the KPK's right."
He said everything related to procurement of the KPU's equipment and logistics was the responsibility of the secretary general.