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ollsters have spoken out against efforts to criminalize what they considered a scientific enterprise to ensure a free and fair presidential election by releasing quick count results.

Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) senior researcher Adjie Alfaraby denounced initiatives to block the pollsters from publishing quick count results by filing reports with the police, and he called on the National Police to not categorize scientific work as crime.

'€œIndonesia'€™s presidential election is being closely followed by the rest of the world. Let'€™s not give the impression that the police are willing to contest scientific findings that come with a disclaimer,'€ Adjie said in a press conference in East Jakarta.

Adjie was responding to a move from Fadli Zon, the secretary of Prabowo Subianto'€™s campaign team, to file a police report against LSI founder Denny Januar Ali, Indikator Politik executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi and Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla campaign team member Akbar Faisal for treason because they published and disseminated quick count results.

In the report, Fadli said that pollsters prematurely announced the results from their quick counts, which could influence the final result of the presidential race.

Both Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Prabowo have claimed victory in the presidential election, anchoring their cases on quick count data gathered by different pollsters. While the Jokowi camp quoted pollsters with established track records of credibility, the Prabowo camp cited data from questionable polling agencies, including JSI, the National Survey Institute (LSN) and Puskaptis, which relied on dubious quick-count methodology.

'€œThis incident, if left without response, can become a dangerous precedent for the development of our democracy,'€ Adjie said.

He also said that the decision to report the findings of a scientific project to the police could harm civil society and academic freedom.

Adjie added that the police report could discourage public participation in the election.

'€œThe presidential election is not only an event for the elite, the political parties or their candidates. It also belongs to the public, which has the right to participate.'€

Adjie said that Denny'€™s early announcement of the election results were based on data from exit polls, a fact that was clearly noted in a disclaimer stating that the only official results would come from the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Adjie also said that LSI was known for projecting election winners quicker than other institutes, even claiming an Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) title for conducting the fastest and most accurate quick count in a past election.

Separately, Burhanuddin said that quick counts could be one of the most effective tools against possible vote rigging.

'€œQuick count data comes directly from the polling stations, we directly tabulate the results. As for the '€˜real count'€™ there are many sides involved,'€ Burhanuddin said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said that the quick count results could be used as a yardstick against which the real count conducted by the KPU could be measured.

'€œIt is completely wrong, to expect for quick count results to be published after the KPU'€™s real count,'€ Burhanuddin said, responding to statements issued by JSI and Puskaptis regarding their methodology.(tjs)