Home Minister: election witness budget being discussed with Finance Ministry

Jakarta, InfoPublik – Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo stated that the 2019 General Election witness budget proposal needs to be discussed with the Finance Ministry.

“The budget is amounted to Rp12 trillion. We need to discuss it further,” Minister Tjahjo said on Thursday (5/18).

He explained that the government has not made a decision on this matter. However, election supervisors are part of Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), an official agency financed by the state budget.

Earlier, Home Affairs Minister stated that election witnesses at every polling stations are volunteers. They are cadres or sympathizers of political parties. That’s why there is no budget allocated to pay their honorarium.

He added that every election witness must supervise the election process for the whole day so they need money for transportation and meals.

If these expenses are allocated, the election budget will be high with Rp300,000 for each witness.

“Moreover, there are more than one witness in a polling station. A large budget is needed to finance their transportation and meals,” he concluded. (Translator: Erik Limantara)