Jakarta (ANTARA) - The General Elections Commission (KPU) apologized while acknowledging its shortcomings in optimally conducting the 2024 Regional Head Elections (Pilkada) in North Sumatra, Central Papua, and the Highland Papua provinces.
"We are admitting this, and at the same time, we must apologize," KPU Chairman Mochammad Afifuddin remarked during a hearing with Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the parliament complex here on Wednesday.
He expressed regret that flooding had caused disruptions to the voting process, resulting in postponements at hundreds of polling stations (TPS) across North Sumatra on the designated election day, Wednesday, November 27.
He noted that to handle this, re-voting or follow-up voting processes in that region would be carried out in the near future.
The KPU of North Sumatra earlier reported that 110 polling stations had to postpone the voting process due to floods that affected several areas.
"In addition to the 110 TPSes that postponed the voting process, there were six TPSes that will carry out follow-up voting," the North Sumatra KPU chairperson, Agus Arifin, remarked on November 27.
Afifuddin underscored the need to reflect on this situation while acknowledging that his side's concerns about the potential for heavy rainfall in North Sumatra had been well-founded.
Meanwhile, he also apologized for the delayed implementation of Pilkada in Central Papua and Highland Papua due to some security issues.
Earlier, he highlighted that the KPU had coordinated with Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Ribka Haluk five days before the Pilkada voting day.
Furthermore, he admitted that the vote recapitulation plenary meetings at the sub-district and district levels continue to present challenges.
The vote recapitulation is being conducted in stages at the sub-district level by the Sub-district Election Committee (PPK) from November 28 to December 3, 2024.
The district- and city-level recapitulation is being held on November 29-December 6, while the provincial-level recapitulation is conducted on November 30-December 9, 2024.
