Camelia Pasandaran – The National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, has confirmed that it is investigating allegations that the General Elections Commission, or KPU, violated the rights of up to 20 million citizens by depriving them of a chance to vote in last week's legislative elections.

"We have established a team to establish evidence of rights violations," Ridha Saleh, the Komnas HAM deputy chairman, said on Friday.

He said the commission had yet to decide if it would propose fresh elections for voters who were left off the final voters list.

"We will wait until the investigation is complete to decide," he said. "Our recommendations, as well as the results of the investigation, will be announced before the election results are released on May 9."

However, Abdul Hafiz Anshary, the KPU chairman, said that while he liked the idea of holding new polls, it would be impossible to do.

"The law does not allow us the option of conducting another election," he said on Friday. "It's a good idea, because we do really want all eligible voters to have the same opportunity, but we cannot do anything as it is prohibited by law."

The comments followed calls from a number of groups on Friday urging Komnas HAM to open an investigation into irregularities concerning the voters list.

"We want Komnas HAM to recommend a special election for those voters who were unregistered," said Ray Rangkuti, chairman of the Indonesian Civil Society Circle.

The grouping of NGOs and academics claimed that between 10 million and 20 million people were deprived of their right to vote. "The election was unconstitutional," Rangkuti said, adding that it was the KPU's legal obligation to carry out another poll for citizens left off the voters list.