Abstention rate may skyrocket in runoff, observers worry

Abstention rate may skyrocket in runoff, observers worry

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta

If anything, the nation's first direct presidential election has
ended in distinction: Some 32 million people did not exercise
their voting rights.

It appears some voters were unable to cast their ballots in
the July 5 election due to unintended administrative errors, but
it is presumed that the total was negligible.

More than 155 million voters were registered for the July 5
election, whose final results were announced on Monday.

The abstention rate is roughly a 10 percent increase on the
April 5 legislative election, when 23.5 million people refused to
vote.

This has raised concern among political analysts and election
watchdogs less than two months to the runoff, at which the
incumbent president, Megawati Soekarnoputri, is to face her
former subordinate, retired Army general Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

In a reversal of the figures, the voter turnout decreased from
84 percent in the April 5 legislative election to 76 percent in
the July 5 election. Around 148 million voters were registered
for the April 5 election.

Independent Committee for Election Monitoring (KIPP)
coordinator Ray Rangkuti stated that people did not exercise
their voting rights because they did not trust the KPU.

Therefore, he said, the KPU ought to boost its image.

"Dissemination of information is not an effective way. I think
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin should resign to boost the
commission's image," he said.

Ray claimed that his team discovered numerous violations in
the presidential election, with 80 percent perpetrated by KPU
officials.

The minor explosion on Monday, he said, was evidence of action
from people who held the KPU in very low regard.

He said that as the number of people who distrusted the agency
increased, the more people would refrain from exercising their
political rights.

"The KPU must strengthen its campaign on the importance of the
presidential election. However, we cannot only rely on the KPU to
carry out the campaign," political analyst Maswadi Rauf told The
Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Maswadi suggested that political and community leaders had to
take part in the campaign. He also criticized community leaders
who publicly said that they would not exercise their voting
rights.

KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin said his office would not
take specific action to improve voter turnout.

"This is a democratic era. We cannot force people to exercise
their voting rights," he said on Tuesday.

Separately, Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO) director Smita
Notosusanto said that she was not worried about the declining
percentage in voter turnout.

She said she was more concerned about the voter registration
process carried out by KPU officials.

"I think the rate of abstentions is less than 5 percent. If
around 20 percent of registered voters did not exercise their
voting rights, then we should question the other 15 percent," she
told the Post.

Smita said that there had been a "markup" in the number of
registered voters as many people had been registered twice and a
number of children had also been registered as voters.

She added the KPU had to improve the registration of voters
and its handling of logistical arrangements.