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Bawaslu anticipates 'golput'
Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) member Nasrullah has said 1 million election volunteers of the committee will work to reduce the number of golput, or voters who choose not to exercise their vote, which is estimated to reach 30 million
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lection Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) member Nasrullah has said 1 million election volunteers of the committee will work to reduce the number of golput, or voters who choose not to exercise their vote, which is estimated to reach 30 million.
'There will be 53 to 60 million young voters and it is estimated that 30 million or half of the total voters are golput [abstainers]. These will become our target,' he said in Bengkulu on Sunday, as quoted by Antara news agency.
Nasrullah said the youngsters, or Indonesian citizens aged between 17 and 29 who were entitled to vote in the 2014 elections, would be the targets of election volunteers.
'The volunteers comprise university and school students from provinces across the country,' he said.
Such a huge number of young voters could pose both threats and opportunities for efforts aimed at creating change for Indonesia, he added.
One of the three functions of the volunteers is to help young voters make good use of their political rights.
'In the midst of the current situation, during which many voters take advantage of elections for personal benefits, young voters can still be rational and exercise their votes properly,' said Nasrullah.
He said the volunteers could also play more active election monitoring roles and provide synergy with community organizations for a more democratic election. (ebf)
