Voters explain why they abstained in July 5 election

Tiarma Siboro and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta

The final results of the presidential election announced on Monday show that the number of people who did not use their right to vote on July 5 increased to 32,044,063, or about 20.9 percent of registered voters.

Analysts have said the abstention could further rise to up to 50 percent of the over 153 million registered voters during the election runoff on Sept. 20, should the General Elections Commission (KPU) not work harder to improve its performance.

During the April 5 legislative election, those who abstained from voting amounted to around 23.5 million people, or 16 percent of 147,106,000 registered voters.

Various reasons were cited for abstention, with many voters simply saying that they felt apathetic about the elections.

Taxi driver Rif'an, and an employee of a private company, Liza, separately said they hadn't voted as they didn't believe their votes would significantly improve the country's condition.

The two, however, admitted that they woke up late on election day after watching the Euro Cup final on television, which finished in the early hours of the morning.

Hanibal W.Y. Widjajanta of Tempo weekly magazine, who mostly covers political issues, said he did not exercise his constitutional right to vote in the presidential and legislative elections because he had lost faith in politicians.

"(Through my work) I have learned that all of them talk nonsense", he said.

Hanibal said he first voted as a senior high school.

"As a first-time voter, I was eager to know what would happen. But, afterward, I never wanted to vote again, especially after working as a journalist -- I know those politicians, I know who and how they are," he added.

Azhar, 28, (not his real name), on the other hand, said his abstention was due to his adoration of a certain political figure.

"I idolize mBak (sister) Tutut so much -- how could I vote for any other candidate?" he said, referring to former president Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.

Commenting on the high percentage of people who didn't vote, House of Representatives member Patrialis Akbar urged the KPU to improve its efforts in disseminating information.

"The effort to boost public participation in the election is the responsibility of all people, including legislators and KPU members," he said.

However, the KPU is the most responsible for the success of the elections, stressed Patrialis, a member of the House commission for home and legal affairs.

KPU member Chusnul Mar'iyah, however, boasted that 20.9 percent was not such a higher number of abstainers, and showed that the election had been well-managed.

Compared to the United States, the participation of Indonesian people in the election was higher, she argued

"In the U.S., only around 40 percent of registered voters actually voted," Chusnul explained.