5,000 Poso residents have yet registered

POSO, Central Sulawesi: Some 5,000 Poso refugees have yet to be registered as eligible voters as of today. They are Poso residents living in refugee camps in Tentena, North Pamona district and in Poso Pesisir district.

Yasin Mangun, an official at the Poso General Election Commission (KPUD), said on Monday that they were not registered because officials from the Central Body of Statistics (BPS) apparently skipped the refugee camps when they registered people for eligible voters in the upcoming election.

He said that the KPUD wished in order to they could be registered and then included as eligible voters. But, the proposal was rejected by the central KPU because of the April 5 deadline was too close.

Finally, as consolation price, the central KPU ordered the KPUD to list them as eligible voters in the upcoming president and vice presidential election on July 5 and September 20 respectively, he said.

"We are afraid that those people are disappointed because they miss the April 5 election. We will approach them in order to they accept the decision," he said. -- JP