KPU Starts Ballots Printing

Commissioner of the General Election Commission (KPU) Ilham Saputra shows the 2019 General Election ballot that was printed in Jakarta, Sunday (20/1). (Photo by: Public Relations of the KPU).

The Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU) officially started the initial printing process for the 2019 General Election ballot, Sunday (20/1).

The ballot printing that was carried out simultaneously in three provinces—Jakarta, East Java, and South Sulawesi—are to prove the KPU’s transparency.

Commissioner of the KPU Ilham Saputra with the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) member Fritz Edward Siregar, the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) member Alfitra Salam, and Director of Politeknik Media Kreatif Purnomo Ananto directly inspected the initial production process that carried out in two consortiums, PT Gramedia, on Jalan Palmerah Selatan, Jakarta, and PT Aksara Grafika Pratama in Cakung, East Jakarta.

In both places, Ilham Saputra had the opportunity to push the button to mark the commencement of the ballot production process. The group then had the opportunity to see the ballot printing process and also carry out a quality control process for the printouts that had been done and must meet the color that specified in the contract.

“It is important for the public to know the information regarding the commencement of this ballot production process to avoid hoaxes,” Ilham said, adding that all the ballots are printed in Indonesia.

The production of ballots, Ilham continued, is limited to only 60 days. “I think with the capacity of the printing companies, we are optimistic that printing for 60 days can be on target,” he added.

PT Gramedia Jakarta is a one printing company of the six consortiums tasked with printing the 2019 Election ballots. From the consortium consisting of 9 companies, the total numbers of ballots printed are 292,019,984 sheets (31.07 percent) and designated for Aceh, North Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, West Java and South Sulawesi Province.

“The contract value is Rp193,635,812,200 or 32.09 percent of the total contract value,” Ilham said.

As for the second consortium, PT Aksara Grafika Pratama, the number of ballots produced there reached 68,176,374 sheets (7.25 percent) and designated for Banten and Lampung Provinces. “The contract value is Rp36,939,634,064 or 6.12 percent of the total contract value,” Ilham added.

For the record, the total number of ballots produced for the 2019 General Election needs reached 939,879,651 sheets.

On the occasion, the Bawaslu member Fritz Edward Siregar ensured that the supervision process would be carried out by the Bawaslu in each printing company that produced the ballots. Supervision was carried out both in print quality and quantity as well as security aspect. “We must prevent leak, even for one ballot, from every printing company,” Fritz said.

The DKPP member Alfitra Salam briefly said that his attendance to ensure that the steps carried out by the KPU were in full swing.

“We herewith see that the production process has been done properly,” Alfitra said. (Humas KPU/ES)

Translated by: Galuh Wicaksono
Edited by: Yuyu Mulyani