Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Around 1.2 million of Jakarta's eligible voters have not been registered for the August gubernatorial election, two national institutions announced Thursday.
The Institute of Research, Education and Information on Social and Economic Affairs (LP3ES) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) surveyed 2,038 residents with Jakarta IDs and found that 22 percent of them were not on the voter list.
The result supports complaints and public reports made to the Jakarta Election Commission (KPU Jakarta) and the Election Watchdog that many residents were left out of the registration process.
LP3ES researcher Agung Prihatna said the survey found that one reason for the relatively low accuracy in the registration process was voters failing to check that their names were on the voter list in their subdistricts. "Only 19.1 percent actively checked their voters status. This reflects a very low awareness among residents," he said.
The audit showed that about 61 percent of registered residents said that they had been listed because subdistrict officials visited their houses to ensure they were on the roll.
The voter registration process began in August last year at the Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency, which instructed all heads of neighborhood units in the city to update voter data from the 2004 legislative election.
The agency extended the process three times before delivering the last voter update to the poll commission in March. The commission updated the survey to list about 5.6 million voters in the city and slashed some 200,000 names to avoid duplication and remove residents who have moved out of the city.
The commission continued to update the data until June 19, only to discover many people were still not registered.
NDI researcher Anastasia Soeryadinata said the voluntary system for voter registration was a fundamental weakness and a reason Jakarta's low election participation rate. "This kind of registration requires a great effort to educate and inform residents and the administration is simply not ready for that," she said.
The high mobility of Jakarta residents also contributed to the relatively low participation rate compared to other regions in Indonesia.
A similar audit conducted by the NDI prior to the Aceh gubernatorial election last year found that 86.9 percent of eligible voters were registered.
Meanwhile, KPU Jakarta member Muflizar said the recklessness of the civil registration agency was the main cause of the low participation rate. "We have complained to the agency but they just did not try to improve the list," he said.
Separately, acting head of the Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency Murdiman said the agency had extended the registration period three times. "We've done our best to present the voter data. it is the commission's responsibility to add or remove data after that," Murdiman said.
Meanwhile, Murdiman's predecessor, Khamil Abdul Kadir, who retired recently, alleged that "partisanship" among some heads of neighborhood units – the focal point in the registration process – was the biggest problem.
Partisan neighborhood units did not include names of residents who belonged to other parties on their lists for the agency, he said.