The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), upbeat about its odds in the upcoming election, is pushing the General Elections Commission (KPU) to postpone the release of the final voter list, saying that a flawed list could jeopardize its chances of winning.

The party claimed that millions of eligible voters in their major strongholds were not registered. It estimated that around 4.3 million, 2.3 million and 1.9 million of eligible voters in West Java, Central Java and East Java, respectively, could forfeit their right to vote should the poll body insist on using the current list.

'€œWe demand that the poll body introduce another postponement,'€ the PDI-P'€™s Arif Wibowo told a press conference in Jakarta on Saturday.

 The country'€™s main opposition party said it was impossible for the poll body to fix all the problems on the list within only two weeks. Therefore, it argued, it was necessary for the KPU to take more time to verify the voter list, even though such a move could disrupt the election schedule.

Arif alleged that a failure to fix the voter list, which is scheduled for publication on Nov. 4 having been delayed twice, would disadvantage his party.

On Oct. 23, the KPU bowed to pressure from political parties, which had the backing of the Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu), to postpone the announcement of the final voter list.

The PDI-P said there was something fishy about the poll body'€™s apparent refusal to admit its mistakes and take action to address them. '€œApart from the fact that the KPU cannot operate professionally, we also sense that there is some motive at play behind the voter list fiasco,'€ Arif said. '€œWhat the game looks like, who is behind it, all will emerge later; just wait and see,'€ he added.

Previously, the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party made a similar call, saying that the voter list was crucial to ensuring a fair election.

The PDI-P and Gerindra are aiming to gain enough votes to pass the threshold to nominate their presidential candidates. The PDI-P has been more open about its plan to nominate Jakarta Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, the most popular candidate for 2014 according to various opinion polls, while Gerindra has long been campaigning for its chief patron, Prabowo Subianto, whose popularity is second only to Jokowi'€™s.

Political parties are required to obtain a minimum 20 percent of seats at the House of Representatives or 25 percent of the nationwide vote to be entitled to nominate a presidential candidate without forming a coalition, as stipulated under the 2008 Presidential Election Law.

While Gerindra'€™s electability remains low compared to Prabowo'€™s, the PDI-P has been placed among the top two parties for the upcoming polls. The latest survey by the National Survey Institute (LSN) predicted that the party would gain 14.4 percent of votes, trailing behind Golkar with 18.1 percent.

KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay played down the PDI-P'€™s concerns, saying he was optimistic that the final voter list would be published on schedule.

He said not all political parties had demanded another delay, adding that House Commission II overseeing domestic governance had recommended that the KPU and the Home Ministry collaborate to finalize the list.

Previously, Hadar had criticized the parties for politicizing the voter list, saying that they should have raised their concerns when the list was released at the regional level rather than bringing the matter up at the 11th hour.

As of Saturday, he said, the KPU had registered the details of 186,384,738 voters in its system. (hrl)

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