Police to Deploy 253,035 Personnel to Guard General Election 2014

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian Police (Polri) will deploy a total of 253,035 personnel to guard the process of the general elections 2014. National Police Chief General Sutarman urged the officers to help guarantee security during the elections and the safety of the people, here on Thursday. The security measures also involve 23,450 military officers and 1,091,556 civilian security personnel. They are in charge of protecting, among others, 186,172,508 eligible voters who will cast their votes across 545,778 polling stations. They will be in charge of special tasks for 224 days, providing security from the distribution of election ballots to the inauguration of the new president and vice president. The police will use preventive, preemptive and lastly repressive measures. The general also reminded his officers to be neutral and impartial during elections. No police officer is allowed to side with any of the presidential or legislative candidates. Indonesia is going to hold legislative elections on April 9 and presidential elections on July 9. The president-elect will be appointed in October 2014. (*)