Depok poll body still busy with new voters
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With the Depok mayoral election just three days away, poll committees in the municipality's 53 subdistricts are still busy registering first-time voters and others not yet on voter lists.
"We have registered 250 new voters within two days up to 2 p.m. today (Thursday). We estimate there will be some 300 new voters in the Kemirimuka subdistrict," polling station chairman Rojudin told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The registrations would be closed at 9 p.m. on Thursday.
The new eligible voters would be added to the 16,746 residents on the permanent eligible voters list (DPT), Rojudin said.
The re-registration drive was held on Wednesday and Thursday, a day after the candidates' campaign period closed on June 22, in response to protests students and supporters of candidate Nur Mahmudi Ismail who had insisted there were many residents that had never been recorded on the KPU's Depok voter list.
Currently, the Depok Elections Commission (KPUD Depok) has registered 899,419 eligible voters.
Previously, an executive of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in Tugu subdistrict, Sugeng, said that there were some 6,000 eligible voters in the subdistrict who were not on the voter lists.
He said 52,000 residents were listed as voters for the presidential election last year. But only 41,605 residents registered as voters for the mayoral election.
"I assumed that 2,000 residents had moved to other places or died. Therefore, there are still some 6,000 residents, who have not yet been registered," he said during a meeting with KPU Depok recently.
Supporters for candidate Badrul Kamal, meanwhile, were not happy with the re-registration.
Badrul's campaign team spokesman Muhammad Hasan said the voter registration had been carried out properly and the reopening of voter registrations was unnecessary, although many of Badrul's supporters had also not been registered.
"We do not agree with the new registration because it will burden the polling committees more," Hasan told the Post on Thursday.
A recent telephone poll revealed that Badrul, who was nominated by Golkar Party and the National Awakening Party, and Nur Mahmudi, who was nominated by PKS, are the two most popular of the five candidates running for mayor.
The three other candidates are Abdul Wahab Abidin, Yus Ruswandi, and Harun Heryana.
KPUD chairman Zulfadli said that only those whose names already on the temporary voter lists (DPS) could be submitted to the DPT. But Rojudin said the subdistrict's polling committee registered all residents who met the requirements.
"If we do not register residents who can show their ID, but not on the DPS list, we are accused of discrimination. I am afraid it will cause conflict among residents," Rojudin said.
According to KPUD staff Solihin Yusuf Sudarman, the commission had printed 922,216 ballot voters and would print another 10,000 to anticipate the possible increase of voters after the new registration.
Zulfadli said KPUD would distribute all election logistics and Friday which would reach polling stations on Saturday.