Indonesia to host re-election for over 60k voters here

 

The Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU) will be holding a re-election on Sunday involving over 60,000 voters residing in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and three other states under the purview of its main embassy here.

This follows reported discrepancies in the data used for the elections held at 223 polling stations in World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur, on Feb 11, as well as via postal ballots and 120 mobile ballot boxes sent into areas including factories and plantations.

“The embassy of the Republic of Indonesia has received an official notification from Central Jakarta KPU regarding the 2024 Election Rerun Poll in Kuala Lumpur.

“The embassy in Kuala Lumpur is not the organiser of the 2024 election. The organiser is the KPU and Bawaslu (General Election Supervisory Agency),” according to the embassy on FB.

Malaysiakini understands that preparations for the re-election had begun earlier this week, including seeking permission from local authorities including police and Wisma Putra.

Officials removed

Previously, KPU chief Hasyim Asy’ari, who was in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 11 to observe the initial elections, confirmed the removal and replacement of seven Kuala Lumpur-based officials in charge of the disputed voting process. 

Indonesian media reports stated that the newly verified electoral roll will only comprise 62,217 voters -  42,372 at 22 polling stations and 19,485 mobile ballot voters - down from 446,258 names listed on Feb 11.

Sources familiar with the matter said the larger figure included names of voters with no verified addresses in Malaysia, which resulted in concerns raised over the veracity of returned postal ballot papers.

Indonesia’s national news agency Antara quoted Hasyim as saying that the entire voting process tomorrow - for a presidential pair candidate and a legislative candidate in DKI Jakarta II - will be completed in one day and ballot counting will also be conducted at WTC KL.

The KPU had on March 4 completed the official counting of ballots received from 127 overseas election organising committees, except ballots from Kuala Lumpur and surrounding states.

Aside from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, on Feb 11, voting was also carried out at the Indonesian Consular-General in Johor, Penang, Sabah, and Sarawak, and there was no dispute over the process.

Indonesia held its joint presidential and legislative elections on Feb 14 along with the immediate release of “quick count” results.

Results from the re-election must be tallied before KPU’s official announcement of the overall results on March 20. - Mkini