Indonesians go to polling stations to voteWednesday, 8 July 2009ANTARA News Agency Some 171,068,667 eligible voters consisting of 169,558,775 people in 33 provinces in Indonesia and 1,509,892 Indonesians in 117 Indonesian embassies abroad, are expected to go to polling stations on Wednesday to vote for the country`s next president and vice president. Three presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs are competing in the country`s second direct presidential election 2009 since the reform era starting in 1998. The competing candidates are former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and her pair retired general Prabowo Subianto, incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono, and incumbent vice president M Jusuf Kalla and retired general Wiranto. More than 541,000 polling stations have been erected throughout Indonesia. In Jakarta and some other regions, the presidential poll is implemented from 8 am to 1 pm Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB). In response to some protests and criticisms especially from the Megawati-Prabowo and Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto camps, the General Election Commission (KPU) tried to update and correct the fixed eligible voter lists (DPTs). The DPTs have been indicated of having two main problems. Firstly, they contained a number of duplicated names of voters, and secondly, many eligible voters were not registered in the lists. To accommodate unregistered eligible voters, the Constitutional Court (MK) ruled to allow unregistered people to vote using their identification cards (KTPs) and or passports. Megawati Soekarnoputri and her husband Taufik Kiemas were scheduled to give her vote at TPS (polling station) No. 026, near her residence at Kebagusan, South Jakarta. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Mrs. Ani Yudhoyono were expected to give their votes at a TPS in Cikeas, Bogor, West Java. Jusuf Kalla and Mufidah Kalla were scheduled to vote at TPS no. 015, Taman Karawang, Menteng, Central Jakarta. The situation in Jakarta and other regions on Wednesday morning when the people thronged polling stations, was peaceful and rather quite as offices and most of shops were also closed.(*) |