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Data glitch will not strip voters of rights: KPU
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has managed to fix some of the data errors affecting 65 million eligible voters and has given assurances the problem will not cause them to lose their right to vote
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he General Elections Commission (KPU) has managed to fix some of the data errors affecting 65 million eligible voters and has given assurances the problem will not cause them to lose their right to vote.
'Synchronization between KPU and Home Ministry data has enabled us to correct the data of 16 million voters. This number may increase as we're still working on it,' KPU chairman Husni Kamil Malik said on Wednesday.
The KPU has held a series of meetings with representatives from the House of Representatives, the Home Ministry and the Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu), as well as other relevant agencies following last week's finding of 'invalid' data of 65 million out of a total 181 million people in the KPU's provisional voters list (DPS).
Husni said the inaccuracy of voters' information would not lead to millions of Indonesians losing their right to vote in the 2014 legislative and presidential elections. He said the inaccuracies were mostly caused by mistakes during data input and other 'technical issues'.
Home Ministry civil and citizenship administration director-general Irman said his ministry had found 7 million inputs from the same person in its information system. It had also contributed to problems when the KPU synchronized its DPS with the ministry's database. 'But this issue must not prevent a citizen from using his or her right to cast a vote,' he said.
Husni said invalid voters' data would be scrutinized by the regional KPU of the voters' respective administrations, to speed up the validation process.
The data of about 65 million people in the DPS had been deemed 'invalid' because their identity numbers consisted of less or more than 16 digits, which the KPU had set as the default in its online system.
The KPU's other commissioner, Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah, said the data error had forced the commission to postpone the release of a fixed voters list (DPT) from Sept. 20 to Oct. 23.
'We're still optimistic the public announcement of the national DPT is on schedule, on Oct. 23,' he said.
Also on Wednesday, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said he supported the KPU's decision to postpone the issuance of the DPT.
'The KPU needs to ensure the accuracy of voters' data before issuing the DPT and announcing it publicly,' he said.
Lawmaker Arif Wibowo from the House's Commission II overseeing domestic governance said the issues had been a result of the government's failure to integrate the information technology systems of both the KPU and the Home Ministry, as mandated by the 2012 Legislative Elections Law.
