Election Commission Says 10.4 Million People With No ID Numbers Are Eligible to Vote

Fuente: 
The Jakarta Globe
Fecha de publicación: 
05 Nov 2013

The General Election Commission (KPU) released on Monday the official list of Indonesians who are eligible to vote in the 2014 national elections, including 10.4 million people who do not yet have government issued identification numbers (NIK).

“We want to protect the constitutional rights of the citizens who are eligible voters,” KPU member Sigit Pamungkas told state-run Antara News Agency on Monday. “Even though they don’t fulfill one of the requirements, it’s better rather than eliminating their voting rights just for an administrative reason.”

Election law stipulates that only those with valid identification numbers can vote. Sigit said he would work closely with the Home Affairs Ministry to ensure that everyone on the list received a number before the election.

The final list included the names of 186,612,255 Indonesian citizens who may vote, with an additional 2,010,280 eligible to cast their ballots from abroad.

Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Arif Wibowo criticized the list as premature and illegal.

“Announcing it in this condition is violating the law,” he said, unconvinced that the government would be able to distribute over ten million identification numbers in time for the elections.

In 2009, the commission was widely criticized for listing many people multiple times while leaving off thousands of eligible voters, promoting the Supreme Court to rule that all voters should show identity cards when casting their ballots.

 

Source/Fuente:http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/election-commission-says-10-4-millio...