Military chopper carries election logistics to Mamberamo Raya

…the poll workers will hopefully be able to serve the voters to cast their votes on Friday (February 16).

The XVII/Cenderawasih Regional Military Command on Thursday deployed a helicopter to transport election logistics for 20 polling stations in four sub-districts of Mamberamo Raya district, Papua province.

More than 203 million Indonesians flocked to polling stations on Wednesday (February 14, 2024). However, residents of the four sub-districts of Mamberamo Raya district have yet to cast their vote due to the unavailability of election logistics.

According to commander of the XVII/Cenderawasih Regional Military Command, Major General Izak Pangemanan, an army chopper had also flown to Apawer sub-district of Sarmi district on Wednesday to deliver logistics.

"The arrivals of the election logistics at 10 polling stations in Apawer will hopefully enable local residents to cast their votes soon," he told ANTARA in Jayapura city on Thursday.

Meanwhile, head of the General Elections Commission (KPU)-Papua Office, Steve Dumbon, confirmed that the election logistics for the 20 polling stations in Mamberamo Raya had arrived.

"Therefore, the poll workers will hopefully be able to serve the voters to cast their votes on Friday (February 16)," he added.

Earlier, Dumbon told ANTARA that transporting election logistics to Papua's nine administrative regions was not easy and involved a huge budget on account of the province's topography.

To deliver election logistics to a single polling station, the commission needed to spend around Rp150 million (about US$9,503), he estimated.

The huge budget was mainly needed to cover transportation costs because, to reach the polling stations in the hinterlands and other remote areas, the KPU needed to use charter aircraft or motorboats.

To complete the delivery, couriers needed to be hired to carry the election logistics on foot for three days to reach the destinations, he said.

Mamberamo Raya was among the districts with a difficult geographical terrain. Thus, the commission needed to allocate Rp10 billion (some US$633,470) for distributing election logistics, he estimated.

On Wednesday, more than 203 million Indonesian voters exercised their ballot at more than 820 thousand polling stations. (INE)

EDITED BY INE