Denpasar – 23 percent of voters abstained from voting in the April 9 legislative election, or 621,443 voters out of 2,667,065 registered voters did not cast their vote.

The results, revealed at a plenary meeting of the Bali General Elections Commission (KPU) on Friday, showed an 8 percent increase in vote abstention since the 2004 election.

Participation level in Bali reached 76.7 percent, although 16.95 percent or 346,207 ballots were considered invalid.

The political powerhouse, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) garnered the most votes with 40.94 percent, sliding about 10 percent in comparison to the figures from 2004.

Golkar Party came in second with 16.76 percent, an 18 percent decrease. The Democratic Party (PD) soared to 14.61 percent, almost tripling their 2004 efforts. PDI-P won 24 seats at the Bali Provincial Legislative Council and Golkar gained 12 seats.