Febriamy Hutapea – The results of a recent survey jointly conducted by four polling institutions, unveiled on Wednesday, show a remarkable level of apathy among voters less than one month before the legislative elections, with almost 80 percent unconcerned as to whether they were on the final voter list.
The majority of those polled had not found it necessary to check whether they were on the final list of voters and thereby eligible to vote in the April 9 legislative elections and the ensuing presidential elections in July.
The poll was conducted by the state Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI; the private think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS; the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education and Information, or LP3ES; and the Center for Political Research of the state University of Indonesia, or Puskapol UI; from Feb. 9 to Feb. 20 and questioned 2,957 people in 33 provinces.
The survey revealed that only 18 percent of those questioned had taken time to visit their neighborhood's administrative office to check whether they had been registered to vote. Most surveyed also said that governmental officials had never bothered to visit their homes to check their details.
"Officials never check the voter list directly against people's residences, while the people themselves are passive. This has revealed the need for an improved system to prepare the voters list," said Sri Budi Eko Wardani, director of Puskapol UI.
The General Elections Commission, or KPU, announced a final list in October, but had to revise it after reports that many voters had been omitted. Earlier this year, the KPU said that the voters list needed further revision and asked the government to issue a regulation-in-lieu-of-law, or perpu, providing them with a legal basis for the revision.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued the perpu last month for the legislative and presidential election to allow the KPU to amend the flawed voter registration process.
Abdul Aziz, the KPU member overseeing logistics procurement, said last week the commission had only finished reviewing the voter lists for 20 provinces and was still calculating the changes in the other 13 provinces. He predicted that there would be about 200,000 additional voters compared to the previous data.
The survey also showed that less than a month before the legislative elections, almost 40 percent of those questioned did not know the exact polling date.
Although 69 percent of those questioned aired optimism that the upcoming election would bring change to the country, the majority had no inkling as to which candidate or party their vote would go to.
Wardani said that few respondents had decided on their preferred candidate, speculating that it was likely due to the confusion caused by the large number of political parties and candidates running in the elections.
"It also shows that only a few legislative candidates actually meet with the people in their regions to introduce their programs and goals," she said.
The last legislative and presidential elections in 2004 saw a 67.57 percent turnout and analysts have warned that poor voter education and confusion about political parties and candidates, as well as the change of voting methods to allow marking, may reduce that figure this year.
In the 2004 elections only puncturing of the ballot papers was allowed.