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Jakarta Post

KPUD registers 156,000 more voters

Following widespread complaints that thousands of people were denied an opportunity to cast legitimate votes in the first round of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) has added more than 156,000 names to the provisional voter list (DPS) for the second round of the election, slated for April 19.

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya and Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, March 21, 2017

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KPUD registers 156,000 more voters All ready: An officer at the General Elections Commission (KPU) prepares data monitors that will be used in the 2017 simultaneous regional elections on Feb.15. The second round of the election is slated for April 19 (Antara/File)

Following widespread complaints that thousands of people were denied an opportunity to cast legitimate votes in the first round of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPUD) has added more than 156,000 names to the provisional voter list (DPS) for the second round of the election, slated for April 19.

KPUD commissioner M. Sidik said Monday the commission added the voters after tallying those who showed up on the Feb. 15 voting day with e-ID cards or recommendations issued by the civil registry. Also included on the new list are unregistered voters who according to the law have a right to vote, residents who turned 17 years of age after Feb. 15, newly arrived city residents and people who registered themselves as voters in registration stations set up in all subdistrict offices and several apartments blocks between March 6 and 13.

“After crunching the numbers on Sunday, we added 156,000 individuals to the provisional voter list for the second round of election,” Sidik said, adding that the total number of registered voters had reached 7,108,589.

The KPUD is expected, between March 22 and 28, to announce the DPS to the public and those whose names do not appear on the list can still register with the commission until it announces the final voter list on April 6.

To prevent a repeat of scuffles between would-be voters and poll workers, the KPUD also promised to simplify registration for residents whose names do not appear on the DPS.

While some poll workers required unregistered voters to show copies of their family cards on Feb. 15, for the second round of voting, the KPUD will only require them to produce valid identification cards such as driver’s licenses, passports or wedding certificates.

The KPUD moved to fix the list following complaints from gubernatorial candidates Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and Anies Baswedan, who claimed they had received reports that their supporters were denied the right to vote.

The two camps have continued to air their grievances regarding the possible manipulation of the voter list.

The campaign team of Anies claimed that 29,330 unregistered voters in West Jakarta, a region considered a stronghold for Ahok, had cast votes illegally in the first round of the election. The camp’s internal investigation claims that 28,853 people were allowed to cast ballots based on fraudulent data, including some who were not registered as Jakarta residents, while 477 others voted more than once using different ID cards.

M. Taufik, a member of Anies’ campaign team, said with the second round of balloting less than a month away, the KPUD needed to quickly fix the data problems so that it could prevent non-Jakartans from casting ballots.

“If the commission lets this happen in the second round, this could lead to an allegation that the KPUD has committed a serious violation,” Taufik said during a press briefing on Monday.

In the first round of the election, Ahok secured more than 50 percent of the vote in West Jakarta, while Anies garnered more than 30 percent.

Meanwhile, Ahok’s camp also expressed concerns over the voter list. Soon after the vote counting process wrapped up for the first round, the campaign team of Ahok set up an office to register complaints from supporters regarding possible violations in connection with voter registration.

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