Indonesia’s General Election Supervisory Agency has recommended that postal voters registered with the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur recast their votes for the republic’s joint legislative and presidential elections.
The agency through its committee of election observers also made a similar recommendation for votes cast via “mobile ballot boxes” across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Terengganu, and Kelantan - six areas under the purview of the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Speaking to reporters at World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur (WTCKL), election observer Rizky Al Farizie said the committee in total issued six recommendations to the committee in charge of conducting the joint elections in Malaysia.
“We have probed several issues raised related to voting done via postal ballots and mobile ballot boxes.
“There is evidence of administrative breaches in the conduct of the elections, and so we have submitted our recommendations to the organising committee,” said Rizky.
The world’s third-largest democracy held its joint elections today, but those residing abroad participated in an early-voting process, either through casting their physical ballots at dedicated polling centres; via postal ballot sent to the nearest Indonesian mission; or through mobile ballot boxes.
Irregularities, vote tampering concerns
Rizky said election observers had detected irregularities in the postal ballots and mobile ballot boxes. For example, 1,972 marked ballot papers were found to have been posted by only one person.
“We have coordinated with Pos Malaysia and detected a large number of returned ballots by a single individual.
“We know the ballots have been marked because of the return envelope,” he said.
As for the mobile ballot boxes distributed in locations where there are a large number of Indonesian workers, including in factories and plantations, Rizky said there were also concerns about vote tampering.
“Measures must be taken to guard against such tactics and ensure each ballot paper goes to its rightful owner,” he said.
Further, Rizky said the committee will continue to probe recent allegations of pre-marked ballot papers found here, which was similarly recorded during the 2019 elections that resulted in the nullification of 319,293 Indonesian postal ballots.
Review voters’ list, postal ballot system
The recommendation follows the discovery of more than 50,000 marked ballot papers for Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo and vice-president Maaruf Amin at two locations in Kajang and Bangi.
This time, Rizky said additional recommendations include reviewing the current voters’ registration list as well as a re-evaluation of the entire postal ballot system.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Overseas Election Committee spokesperson Puji Sumarsono confirmed receiving the election observers’ recommendations.
“We have just received the recommendations and we will review them,” Puji told reporters.
However, he also said the ongoing vote-counting process at WTCKL will proceed until further notice.
There are 223 polling stations, each with two ballot boxes - one for the presidential candidate and the other to elect a member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives.
On Sunday, thousands of Indonesians thronged WTCKL to cast their ballots ahead of the main election day across the republic today. - Mkini
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