Bad Weather Hampers Shipment of Ballots to Batam

Batam, Riau Islands (Antara) - Bad weather has slowed the shipment of ballots from Jakarta to Batam city in Riau Islands province, according to officials. "The ship carrying the ballots from Jakarta was originally scheduled to arrive at Batam's Batu Ampar port on Friday, but as of Saturday afternoon it has not arrived because of the bad weather," local General Election Commission (KPU) spokesman Muhammad Syahdan said here on Saturday. According to Syahdan, a cargo ship was carrying 5 million ballots and other logistical supplies for the 2014 legislative elections in Batam. Syahdan noted that even if the ship arrived on Saturday evening, the KPU could not immediately transport the ballots to a storehouse in Sekupang because the shipment must first be examined. "If the ship arrives this evening, we will probably unload it on Sunday," he said, adding that KPU has asked the police to guard the transport of ballots from the port to a logistics storehouse in Sekupang. (*)