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Overseas voter turnout up by 83%, says PPLN
Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) head Wahid Supriyadi claims the real participation of Indonesian citizens overseas in this yearâs presidential election was higher than in the 2009 vote
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verseas Election Committee (PPLN) head Wahid Supriyadi claims the real participation of Indonesian citizens overseas in this year's presidential election was higher than in the 2009 vote.
'Based on our temporary data, the voter turnout of Indonesian citizens in this year's presidential election increased by 83 percent from the turnout in the 2009 election. It's a satisfying result,' said Wahid as quoted by Antara news agency, in an open plenary meeting of the overseas vote recapitulation meeting at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday.
He said PPLN offices in several countries saw a significant increase in voter turnout. 'In several PPLN offices, the number of Indonesian citizens who exercised their right to vote increased by up to 800 percent, one of which was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,' said Wahid.
He went on to say that among challenges the PPLN offices were facing in the balloting and vote counting processes were related to ballot distribution.
'Factors such as distance and locations had made distribution of election materials very challenging,' said Wahid.
The KPU is counting the votes from balloting in 96 countries today.
'We are starting today the recapitulation of votes from overseas balloting, based on data in the D-1 certificates, which record the results of votes from overseas polling stations [TPSLN] and drop boxes,' said KPU chairman Husni Kamil Manik.
A number of problems were identified by PPLN offices during overseas voting, which took place from July 4 to 6.
'There were dynamics in the organizing of balloting in a number of cities and countries such as Hong Kong, Los Angeles [US] and Malaysia. The PPLN Working Group will convey information on this [in the plenary meeting],' said Husni.
The overseas vote recapitulation is scheduled to end on Friday. In the July 9 presidential election, candidate pairs Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo-Jusuf Kalla and Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa ran for president and vice president. (ebf)
