4 Indonesia Elections Abroad Hampered with Issues

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The 2019 Indonesia elections held abroad had been completed on April 14. However, the process did not run as smoothly as expected since there were many reported errors in several countries.

Adhering to the General Elections Commission (KPU) Decree No.644/2019, early voting are held from April 8 to April 14 but will only be counted on April 17 in parallel to the domestic election schedule.

Read also: Jokowi Camp Demand Answer for Multiple Overseas Election Chaos

The Indonesian elections committee members in polling stations (TPS) abroad face a number of challenges from damaged voting ballots, overly long queue, up to running out of voting time. The following are the regions with elections hiccups;

1. Sydney, Australia

Indonesia’s 2019 general elections were held for locals living in Sydney on Saturday, April 13. Indonesians there reportedly could not practice their right to vote for the alleged lack of organizational ability of the overseas elections committee (PPLN).

Testimony from Putri, an Indonesian national during the polling took place suggested that the committee members badly handled voters’ registration. Putri claimed that some Indonesians who were listed in the final voter’s list (DPT) but were told otherwise.

There were also long queues at the location that eventually sparked the petition to force the local PPLN to hold another election.

2. Wan Chai, Hong Kong

The polling station at the Queen Elizbeth Stadium reportedly saw 20 alleged Indonesians living in Hong Kong forced their way in after they were disappointed for not being able to cast their vote.

However, the Hong Kong general elections committee said that the group of people ransacked into the polling area after the designated schedule had ended. Indonesians registered as voters reach 180,232 people.

3. Selangor, Malaysia

A video last week emerged of a warehouse in Selangor that housed large amounts of voting ballots that were pre-punctured to favor the incumbent presidential candidate. The KPU maintained that the case is being investigated and that used voting ballots will not be counted.

4. Den Haag, the Netherlands 

The general elections in the Netherlands did not report on any type of technical difficulties, however, the challenge faced by voters is the Embassy’s location which was difficult to reach. According to news reports, Indonesian pianist and writer Karina Andjiani had to travel 107.5 kilometers from her home in s-Hertogenbosch to the Sekolah Indonesia Den Haag (SIDH) school.

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