The General Elections Commission (KPU) has defended recent criticisms over its registration of diaspora and first-time voters in the national voter roll for next year’s general election.

The commission presented the national voter roll last week, revealing that 204 million Indonesians, including 1.75 million living abroad, are eligible to cast their votes on Feb. 14 of next year.

But the number of overseas voters drew scrutiny, including from the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), and the Labor Party.

Bawaslu member Lolly Suhenty said on Friday that the KPU had to explain the data discrepancies of 2.85 million diaspora voters not included in the official voter roll. Lolly, who was echoed by Labor Party Leader Said Iqbal, said the number was underestimated when compared to data from the Agency for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BP2MI).

The BP2MI, a government agency responsible for the protection of migrant workers overseas, estimated in May that 4.4 million Indonesians were working overseas through legal and government-recognized channels. Other estimates put the actual figure as high as nine million, taking illegal migrant workers into account.

“KPU needs to synchronize and cross check its data with other stakeholders,” Lolly said as quoted by kompas.id.

KPU Commissioner Betty Epsilon Idroos told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the KPU used the data from the Foreign Affairs Ministry for the diaspora voters, as mandated by the 2017 General Election Law.

“We were closely following the law when finalizing the national voter roll and, to that extent, data on potential diaspora voters should strictly be sourced from the Foreign Ministry,” Betty said. The BP2MI had also worked closely with the KPU and didn’t raise any issue regarding the number of voters abroad in the voter roll, she added.

The election commission, Betty said, could not just suddenly switch to using BP2MI’s data for the voter roll. The KPU would need to hold a meeting with the House of Representatives and the government to revise the 2017 law should Bawaslu demanded them to change the voter roll.

No e-ID for young voters

Lolly also raised concerns that around 4 million first-time voters might not be able to cast their ballots on next year’s voting day. These first-time voters are currently still 16 years old, but are due to turn 17 by Feb. 14.

She was concerned that these voters would not get their e-ID cards on time. The 17-year-olds who don’t have e-IDs would still be allowed to vote by showing their family cards (KK) as proof of their age. “How could a KK, which has no [photograph of the person], be a suitable alternative to e-ID cards,” Lolly on Friday, as quoted by kompas.com.

She added that the KPU would work closely with the Home Ministry’s Population and Civil Registry (Dukcapil) to ensure that all eligible voters have their e-ID cards in time for the elections.

KPU’s Betty asserted that the family cards remain a viable alternative.

“There are first-time voters who will turn 17 on election day. It’s impossible to ensure that everyone has an e-ID card by then,” Betty said. “Officially, the government recognizes both e-ID cards and family cards as proof of identity.”

The Home Ministry was optimistic that it would be able to hand out e-ID cards to first-time voters by the voting day next year. The ministry had collected data of millions of people who are going to turn 17 and will hand out their e-ID cards on their birthday, Dukcapil director general Teguh Setyabudi said on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

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