City to spend Rp 16 billion to update voter list

JAKARTA: Amid a nationwide uproar on alleged voter list fraud, the Jakarta administration will spend Rp 16 billion (US$1.48 million) to help update the city's voter list, an official said Friday.

Head of the Jakarta Population and Civil Registry Agency, Franky Mangatas Panjaitan, said the money would be spent on neighborhood and district chiefs to make sure they updated the city population's register and "kept up with who had passed away and who had moved".

He said neighborhood and district chiefs needed to explain to eligible voters how to register, adding the voter list update had to be completed by May 10, while the final voter list had to be settled on May 31.

He said the city administration was not trying to step on the Jakarta Elections Commission's toes, who had the authority to update voter lists, but that it simply wanted to protect the rights of all Jakarta residents.

Jakarta has a population of 8.5 million with 6.6 million eligible voters. - JP