KPU not to Repeat Vote

Jakarta (Antara) - The General Election Commission (KPU) confirmed on Sunday that no repeat election would be done despite a request from the General Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu). "The law states that in case of a problem a repeat election may only be done within 10 days after the election or on Saturday (July 19) at the latest," KPU official Hadar Nafis Gumay said on the sidelines of an open plenary meeting on national recapitulation of vote tallies at the KPU Building. Regarding the Bawaslu's recommendation for the KPU to recheck votes from 5,802 voting stations in Jakarta for indications of violations Hadar said that the KPU would still ask the local office to look into the issue but repeating the vote in 5,802 stations would be impossible to do. "It is impossible to do it because the deadline has been passed. But we will ask the KPU and Bawaslu Jakarta offices to look into it involving heads and committees of polling stations at village and sub-district levels," he said. The head of the Prabowo-Hatta pair's success team, Muhammad Taufik, has stated that the results of recapitulation of vote tallies in Jakarta would be legally flawed if they are legitimized due to indications of violations of laws during the vote on July 9. Taufik said that the KPU Jakarta office should have implemented the recommendation of Bawaslu because announcing the results of the recapitulation in Jakarta. "Bawaslu has recommended a recheck on 5,802 stations in Jakarta due to indications of violations of the law but it has not been done and the KPU would even continue with its recapitulation program. So, if the recapitulation is continued it means it is legally flawed," he said. Taufik said Bawaslu has recommended a recheck on votes from 5,802 polling stations because people from outside the stations have allegedly cast votes illegally at the stations. (*) reporting by fransiska ninditya