Many Voters Unable to Vote, KPU Didn’t Disseminate Enough Information

In this year’s Jakarta Local Election, many voters complaint that they cannot vote because they haven’t receive any information on what to do if they are not already registered in Voters’ List. Many voters who already got their electronic-Residents Identification Card (e-KTP) or recommendation letter from the Residents and Civil Registry Office (Disdukcapil) come to polling station without bringing their Family Card (KK). According to the Election Commission’s Regulation (PKPU), any voter who has not been registered in Voters’ List should prepare their e-KTP or recommendation letter from Disdukcapil and KK as the requirements for them to be able to vote in local election.

“The Election Commission (KPU) did not convey this information properly. Many voters come to polling station with their e-KTP or recommendation letter without their KK,” says the National Coordinator of the People’s Voters Education Network (JPPR), Masykurudin Hafidz, in Jakarta (02/15).

Masykur says KPU only disseminate the Handbill containing the requirements on February 13^th 2016 or only two days before the election day. According to Masykurudin, two days is not enough to disseminate such important information.

“The Handbill regarding the requirements is distributed on February 13^th. There is not enough time for voters to receive those requirements. There are also 81 copies of the Handbill that did not distributed properly,” says Masykurudin.

Based on observation conducted by JPPR, in 25 percent of total 940 polling stations, or in around 235 polling stations, there are cases where voters are unable to vote because they did not bring their KK.