Voters rise by 2.6 million

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced on Monday that the final number of eligible voters for the 2004 general elections stood at 145,701,637, a 2.6 million increase from last July's tally of 143,083,340, the result of a quick count during the national population and voter census (P4B).

The final number of eligible voters for this year's elections is also a 23 percent increase from the 118.15 million voters in the 1999 legislative elections.

KPU deputy chairman Ramlan Surbakti said the increase resulted from a computer-based verification conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of people aged 17 or those married by April 5, 2004.

The legislative elections will be on April 5, followed by the direct presidential election on July 5, with a second round on Sept. 20 if no clear winner emerges.

The increase was also attributable to voters who had registered during the verification period, he added.

He said the BPS had only counted those who were 17 years old or were married in the July 2003 tally, but had not included people who would be 17 by April 2004.

The highest increase was recorded in West Java with 541,331 new voters, Ramlan said.

In the three provinces of Riau, the Riau Islands and Papua, the final tally of eligible voters had recorded a decline.

The final tally had yet to include voters in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, where security is still volatile amid the martial law, he added.

"The increase of eligible voters will consequently be reflected in a hike in the 2004 KPU budget, particularly for ballot paper, so we expect the House of Representatives budget committee to disburse the Rp 500 billion state reserve fund," he said.

The House has approved only Rp 3 trillion of the Rp 3.9 trillion budget proposed by the KPU.

Ramlan also said the KPU would allow the Village Elections Committee (PPS) to add to their voter count in the next three days. The BPS must submit the additional voters to the KPU on Jan. 29 at the latest.

Meanwhile, the number of eligible voters overseas had not yet been calculated by the KPU and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Ramlan promised to have this completed by the end of January.

"But overseas voters will not affect the number of local eligible voters, as they will be given special voter registration cards from the KPU, which is different from local voter registration cards," he said.

After the verification period, the census showed a total population of 215,631,379, an increase of 799,976 from the 214,831,403 counted in July 2003.