Registration lapses must cease: Analysts
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Political analysts called on the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Saturday to ensure that voters who were not registered for the general election be registered in time to cast their ballots in the presidential election.
"The KPU should improve the registration for the presidential election scheduled for July 5, and the possible runoff on Sept. 20," political analyst Bachtiar Effendy said.
"Voters may not tolerate the same mistakes in the presidential election, as they will consider it more important than the legislative election," he said.
The legislative election will take place on April 5, but thousands of eligible voters have complained that they were never registered and thus are unable to exercise their constitutional rights.
The KPU estimates that 0.5 percent of the over 147 million eligible voters were not yet registered, which the commission blamed on errors by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
The real number of unregistered voters, however, could be much higher, as reports of unregistered voters continue to come in from around the country.
The Election Supervisory Committee estimated that in North Sumatra alone about 1.5 million people would be denied the opportunity to votes.
Also, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Saturday just 10 percent of 2.5 million migrant workers overseas had been registered to vote. He blamed this failure on the poor coordination between the KPU, Indonesian embassies and the home ministry.
"We also fear that a bulk of registered voters will not be able to vote at polling stations set up in embassies and consulates general," he told The Jakarta Post.
In Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, the local General Elections Commission (KPUD) said there were over 8,500 would-be voters in the province who had not been registered.
In Pelalawan regency, Riau province, the KPUD said that two days ahead of the elections, almost 40 percent of voter cards had yet to be distributed.
KPUD chairman Edi Sabli said the cards could not reach voters in time due to a lack of workers to deliver them.
In the capital of Southeast Sulawesi, Kendari, the local elections commission is ready to face legal action by over 1,200 eligible voters who were not registered.
KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti reiterated on Saturday that only voters with voter cards or those who could produce letters from their local working committee for polling stations (KPPS) could vote.
"Sunday is the last day for unregistered voters who have not obtained the KPPS letter to get their name on the list of eligible voters," he said.
J. Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies expressed optimism that unregistered voters would not obstruct the polls.
He said the public had grown politically mature over the years and had begun to perceive that general elections were not the only avenue for them to express their political convictions.
Kristiadi said the number of unregistered voters was within a tolerable limit, as the KPU was undertaking one of the most complex elections ever to be held in the world.
"Moreover, there is not much we can do one day before the election," he said.