Indonesia did not see any meaningful increase in voter turnout during the 2024 presidential race when compared with the 2019 poll, even though the numbers still exceeded 80 percent of the voter roll, the General Elections Commission (KPU) revealed on Wednesday.

In one of the world’s biggest national elections to be held this year thus far, 81.78 percent of 204.8 million registered voters cast their ballot in February.

Five years ago, when President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was up for reelection, 81.9 percent of the 192.8 million registered voters cast their ballot, according to KPU data.

“This data was disclosed following the Constitutional Court ruling confirming the presidential election returns,” said KPU commissioner August Mellaz, during a discussion organized by a press association in Jakarta.

In comparison, 2019 saw a record turnout at polling stations, jumping from the 69.6 percent recorded in 2014, when the number of registered voters was 190 million.

As such, there was no significant jump in turnout this year.

There was, however, a slight decrease in voter turnout percentage, but August insisted this had more to do with the different calculation method used this year.

In 2019, the KPU measured participation based on the number of voters on the permanent voters list (DPT). Meanwhile, turnout this year took account of additional voters recorded on the special voters list (DPK).

“If we didn’t include the DPK, turnout would have reached 82 percent. But we didn’t want to do that,” August said.

“The KPU views DPK voters as an integral part of the voter list at the polling stations, so they had to be included in the calculation,” he said, as quoted by Kompas.com.

Voters on this special roll include citizens who are eligible to vote but were previously not accommodated on the DPT. This included people who wished to vote in an electorate district that was different from the one they were registered in.

In several overseas polling stations, especially in places where a large number of Indonesians congregated, this became an issue that led to inflated turnout and even a scarcity of ballot papers.

Meanwhile, in the 2024 legislative elections, voter turnout surpassed 81 percent as well. However, the KPU has yet to officially release the turnout figures, pending ongoing election disputes being heard at the Constitutional Court.

The top court will announce its rulings on the 2024 legislative election disputes on June 6, 7 and 10. (tjs)

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