Indonesians abroad not keen to take part in poll

Indonesians abroad not keen to take part in poll

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesian voters living abroad have shown little interest in the
legislative election, with as little as 10 percent of the more
than 400,000 registered voters estimated to have exercised their
rights, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on
Tuesday.

These registered voters made up only 23 percent of the total
number of Indonesians known to live in foreign countries, Hassan
said.

While, there were about 407,000 voters registered
internationally, only 10 to 30 percent of them had actually
participated in the election, he said.

Regarding the election result, Hassan said the latest figures
showed the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and
the Golkar Party were winning the largest share of the ex-patriot
vote.

"We could have the final result in only two weeks from now,"
Hassan said after meeting the ministry's second echelon
officials.

However, data gathered by The Jakarta Post from several
embassies showed the PDI-P was in a tight race with the
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), especially in the Middle East.

From the Indonesian Embassy in Dubai, the PKS won 180 of 680
votes, with the PDI-P in second place with 108 votes.

In ongoing counting in Riyadh, the PKS lead yesterday with
1212 votes, with the National Awakening Party (PKB) following
with 357 votes and the PDI-P with 241 votes.

In Egypt, the PKS led the counting, with 1126 votes out of a
total of 1761, with the PDI-P not getting any votes at all.

Indonesian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Juwono Sudarsono,
said on Tuesday that so far the embassy had received 1,200 votes,
with PKS leading the counting.

"But there is still another 1,000 votes that we haven't
counted and it could take another two days for the final result,"
Juwono told the Post.

In Russia, Ambassador Susanto Pudjomartono said the PDI-P won
with 29 votes, with the Democratic Party coming second.

The votes included Indonesian citizens in Moscow and St
Petersburg, he said.

The PDI-P had significant wins in Singapore, with about 30
percent of the 10,000 vote total, with Golkar and the Democratic
Party trailing in second and third.

In the United States, the Democratic Party won 71 votes in
Washington D.C., while the PKS came second and the Christian-
based Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) third.

In New York, the PDS won with 58 votes and the Democratic
Party came second with 41 votes. The PKS was third with 31 votes,
while the PDI-P and the National Mandate Party (PAN) had 21 votes
each.