TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Thousands of Bangka Belitung Islands residents have failed to cast their votes in the 2024 general elections. People were still seen queueing at polling stations even after the voting time was officially up. Officers denied their requests to vote after 1 p.m. local time.

The head of the general elections supervisory agency or Bawaslu of Bangka Belitung EM Osykar said that his side found many residents were denied voting rights. “This finding is almost massive in the regency and city in Banka Belitung. Thousands of residents failed [to vote] despite coming to the polling station. This greatly disappoints us,” he told Tempo on Wednesday, Feb. 14.

According to Osykar, this problem was caused by the utter unprofessionalism of the KPPS officers. “This issue did not lie on the residents, but on the officers. They were the ones who had gone through much technical training for their duty. The residents have been queueing up for a long time,” he said.

KPPS officers seemed to be unprepared to face obstacles, he said, while believing the situation would persist well into voting counts. “Residents who have not received an invitation were told to go check if they were listed as a voter by themselves,” Osykar said.

In a number of polling stations, people could not vote until afternoon and officers reasoned that it was time for the special voter list or DPK.

“We also found that many polling stations lack ballots, especially for the presidential ballots,” Osykar added.

Osykar stressed that Bawaslu will immediately deliver this issue to the General Elections Commission. “I will gather all the issues and will summarize them as soon as possible. We will deliver this to KPU,” he said.

Erna, a resident, said she failed to cast her vote since her name was not on the voter list, and her effort to request voting with her ID card was ignored.

“My house was close to the polling station, but I could not vote because I did not receive the invitation and was not on the voter list,” said Erna, who tried to vote at TPS 005 Selindung Baru, Pangkalpinang.

Another resident, Junaidi, was confused because his name was listed in a polling station far away from his residence.

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