34,000 residents lose voting rights

34,000 residents lose voting rights

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: Some 34,000 residents of East Nusa
Tenggara province will be unable to vote in the upcoming general
election because officials failed to register them, a poll
official said on Monday.

"However, we will make an effort to allow them to exercise
their right to vote in the upcoming presidential election," said
Johanis Depa, a member of East Nusa Tenggara General Elections
Commission (KPUD).

The 34,000 unregistered voters are residents of 14 regencies
and mayoralties in the province.

Johanis said the residents were not registered to vote in the
April 5 general election because of technical errors.

East Nusa Tenggara province is made up of a string of islands,
making it difficult for officials from the Central Statistics
Agency (BPS) to meet the deadline for registering voters, which
was Jan. 29.

Johanis said the KPUD would propose to the BPS that it
register the residents to vote in the presidential election on
July 5. The 34,000 residents are part of the 2,485,850 eligible
voters in the province. -- JP