TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The dispute over the number of voters in the Jakarta gubernatorial elections should be settled immediately. If possible, the Jakarta General Elections Commission (KPU) should re-examine the list of voters in order to avoid cheating through double voting. The elections commission needs to work harder because five out of six gubernatorial candidates claim the voter list is questionable. The only candidate who does not see any problem in the list is incumbent candidate Fauzi Bowo. The rest of the candidates believe the number of voters, 6.9 million of them, listed by the Jakarta KPU is too large numbers considering there are only about 5.5 million registered on the e-ID card program in Jakarta. If the discrepancies are true, then major revisions are required. However, only Joko Widido’s campaign team believes the number of problematic voters on the list is small. The team claimed there are only 44,000 questionable voters who need to be re-examined due to their double citizenship registration numbers. That means the questionable number of voters may not be as bad as the public had expected. Despite the fact the voters list has been established, the Jakarta KPU can make revisions if needed. The commission must give candidates’ campaign teams the opportunity to evaluate the voter list. Observation results from the monitoring team should also be taken into consideration so that the list is clean and free from double or fictitious voters. The number of Jakarta residents who have the right to vote who are registered in the e-ID system is relatively more accurate. The likelihood that a citizen owns two IDs is smaller considering that biometric data such as fingerprints and corneas are included in the system. The problem is, as addressed by the Jakarta KPU, that the e-ID card registration process is not complete. There are still plenty of Jakartans who have the right to vote but are yet to be registered in the e-ID system. Therefore, the KPU can concentrate first on the questionable data proposed by the candidates. Matters need to be clarified before the gubernatorial elections begin. If the KPU has exhibited maximum efforts to re-evaluate the list of problematic voters, the candidates must refrain from scrutinizing it. Objections over the list can be misinterpreted as ways of gaining popularity if the candidates proceed to the next stage of the elections, nonetheless. In the future, the dispute should not re-emerge as a scapegoat for the losing candidates. Like in a soccer match, the losing team cannot blame the inadequate soccer field when the team has been familiar with the conditions since the beginning. Therefore, it is crucial the KPU clarify the voters’ list dispute early in the process. Agreements need to be achieved in regard to avoiding foul play that may occur from an ill-prepared voters’ list. For instance, the use of marker ink to identify voters that have cast their votes needs to be monitored closely in order to avoid double voting. Residents who live outside Jakarta must be identified so that they cannot cast their votes in the regional elections. In other words, commotions prior to elections will be beneficial if they are properly resolved. The candidates’ campaign teams can be involved to a specified extent in the monitoring of each stage of the election. Such practices will minimize suspicion and disputes over the elections results.