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Jakarta Bawaslu urges voters to report identity fraud in Dharma-Kun bid
The local election agency has set up seven posts across Jakarta to manage complaints from residents on the unauthorized use of their identity by independent pair Dharma Pongrekun and Kun Wardana in fulfilling the candidacy requirements.
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A student scans his retina on Aug. 8, 2024 in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, to submit his biodata for an electronic identity card. (Antara/Andry Denisah)
The Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) has urged resident voters to report any unauthorized use of their identity by gubernatorial hopefuls Dharma Pongrekun and Kun Wardana in fulfilling the legal requirements for contesting November’s regional head elections.
Dharma and his running mate qualified to run as independents in Jakarta on Thursday, when the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) verified that the pair had garnered the endorsement of 677,468 voters.
Existing regulations require independent candidates aspiring to contest the Jakarta gubernatorial race to collect the signatures of more than 600,000 residents, or 7.5 percent of the 8.2 million registered voters in the city. The letters of support bearing these signatures, as well as copies of the voters’ identity cards, must be submitted to the Jakarta KPU.
However, dozens of the city’s registered voters have been complaining about identity theft on social media since Friday, saying they had discovered the fraudulent use of their identity after checking the list of Dharma-Kun supporters on the KPU website.
In response, the Jakarta Bawaslu has set up seven posts at the provincial, municipal and district levels to manage voters’ complaints.
“We urge residents to file a report. We invite all Jakarta residents to participate as observers,” Benny Sabdo of the Jakarta KPU said on Friday, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Read also: Voter IDs misused for Jakarta governor election
Dharma, a retired police general, and his running mate Kun, an academic, had initially submitted documents supporting their candidacy in June. But the Jakarta KPU rejected their application upon cross-checking the 1.2 million voter signatures with its database and finding that only around 450,000 signatures were valid.
The city’s election agency allowed the pair to submit a revised list, and then sent out its officials later that month on a door-to-door inspection to check the names on the new list.
While the perpetrators or the reasons behind the identity fraud remain unclear, activists have questioned the KPU’s capacity to secure its database and hold a fair election.
Independent candidates have until Monday to fulfill the KPU requirements before the official registration period on Aug. 24-26 for candidates with political party support.
Voters head to the polls on Nov. 27 to elect governors, regents and mayors in more than 500 regions nationwide in the country’s first simultaneous regional head elections. (jan)
