Benny Mawel, Jayapura – At least 160,000 residents of two districts in Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua, will vote in the general election on April 18 after logistical glitches on Wednesday, when the country held the legislative and presidential election.
Residents who live in Abepura and South Jayapura districts were forced to delay exercising their voting rights after polling stations in the area encountered problems, such as incomplete ballots or no ballots being delivered at all.
Some voted in polling stations that provided less than the five required ballots.
All voting on the day was deemed invalid. More than 160,000 registered voters in the two districts will have to go to polling stations once again on Thursday to vote.
"We had a meeting this morning and after determining that we didn't have time to send the ballots to the hundreds of polling stations and count them all today, the Elections Supervisory Agency recommended the election be postponed until tomorrow from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.," Papua General Elections Commission (KPU Papua) head Theodorus Kossay said on Wednesday.
Data from KPU Papua showed that there were 744 polling stations in Abepura and South Jayapura, with 88,425 registered voters in Abepura and 72,044 registered voters in South Jayapura.