Susulant Voting Becomes An Option At TPS Affected By Floods In Demak

Houses in Ketanjung Village, Karanganyar District, Demak Regency, are still flooded and cannot be occupied, Saturday (10/2/2024). (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) said there was an option for further voting for voters at several polling stations (TPS) affected by flooding in Demak, Central Java.

Member of the Indonesian Bawaslu Lolly Suhenty conveyed several scenarios prepared by the KPU and discussed with other relevant institutions including Bawaslu related to voting in more than hundreds of polling stations in Demak which were affected by the flood.

"In the case in Demak, my friends have made various efforts to ensure that the election can run smoothly. But it is a difficult situation, so further elections are one of the options besides relocation," said Lolly on Sunday, February 11.

However, he said that no decisions had been made regarding it. "Later we will see the progress, we will continue to collect data," he said.

The KPU of Demak Regency as of February 7, 2024, reported that 106 locations were planned to be polling stations flooded.

"We also still have to update. Later, we will invite PPK and PPS to discuss and report to the local government for mitigation so that the election runs safely," said Head of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Demak Siti Ulfaati.

Meanwhile, Acting Governor of Central Java Nana Sudjana while reviewing the evacuation posts for flood victims in Demak Regency, Central Java, Saturday (10/2), said that TPS-TPS in Demak and Kudus Regency that were flooded would be moved to the area around the evacuation area.

"There are several areas that are currently affected by flooding, including in Demak there are 30 villages. We have coordinated with regents, district KPUs, and provincial KPUs. Indeed, we have to move TPS-TPS affected by the flood," said Acting Governor of Central Java.

He said that currently the electoral logistics such as ballot boxes and ballots are safe, because they are still stored in district government offices and have not been distributed to polling stations.

"We are grateful that the election logistics is still safe, we just need to coordinate with the KPUD to move the TPS location to the refugee shelter," said Nana.

Natural disasters are one of the vulnerabilities in the spotlight of the Indonesian Bawaslu. In the results of the mapping on February 3, 2024, Bawaslu found 10,794 polling stations in disaster-prone locations, including those prone to flooding, prone to landslides, and/or affected by the earthquake.

TPS located in earthquake-prone locations is one of the seven most common vulnerability indicators found by Bawaslu at TPS-TPS. Six other vulnerabilities, namely there is a permanent voter list (DPT) that no longer meets the requirements, there are additional voters (DPTb), KPPS who work outside the place where they choose, TPS near the homes of candidate pairs or winning posts, and there is a special voter list (DPK).

Bawaslu also prepared a number of strategies to anticipate these vulnerabilities. The five Bawaslu strategies include patrols at polling stations that are considered vulnerable, consolidated and coordinated with related institutions, socialization and political education for the community, collaboration with election monitors, and creating complaint posts that can be accessed by the public.

Bawaslu also issued three recommendations for the KPU instructing PPS and its KPPS to anticipate the vulnerability mapped by Bawaslu, coordinate with all relevant institutions, and ensure that the distribution of election logistics runs on time.

The KPU has determined that the vote to elect a presidential-vice presidential candidate pair and members of the legislature will take place simultaneously on February 14, 2024.