Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has set up a team to investigate why so many people were left off the fixed voter lists for the April 9 legislative elections.
"We have appointed a three-member team with high competency in the fields of politics and law to investigate the alleged fraud that took place during the last elections," commission deputy chairman Ridha Saleh said Tuesday.
However, he declined to name the team members, saying only they were an academic, a former General Elections Commission (KPU) member, and a former university rector. "We've also set a deadline for the team to publish their findings by May 10," he said.
The commission claims the recent elections were rigged and that there were systemic violations that led to millions of eligible voters being disenfranchised.
Komnas HAM put the number of unregistered voters at an estimated 46 million, while political activists claim there were around 10 million voters left off the final lists.
"This fraud is a violation of political civil rights, but before we can call it a gross violation of human rights, we need to investigate it first," Ridha said.
He added the commission would also summon KPU members and Home Minister Mardiyanto in the near future to explain the problems with the flawed voter lists.
Komnas HAM chairman Ifdhal Kasim previously said that if these errors were intentional, further investigations and even trials would be necessary.
During the recent polls, the commission monitored several conflict-prone regions, including Papua, Ambon, Aceh, and Poso in Central Sulawesi, as well as border areas like Atambua in East Nusa Tenggara and Nunukan in East Kalimantan.
The official rights body focused its monitoring on marginal groups, such as internally displaced people, migrant workers, prisoners and hospitalized mentally ill patients. It found the majority of voters in those areas were unregistered or were not allowed to vote, even though their names were on the lists.
Several civil society groups, such as the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), the Indonesian Legal Aid Association (PBHI) and the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK), have taken legal action to challenge the recent election results by filing a civil lawsuit on April 14 against the KPU and the government for preventing citizens from voting in the recent elections.
Politicians have also criticized the legislative elections, calling them "the worst elections" among all polls ever held – including in 1999 and 2004 – since former president Soeharto's downfall.
They claimed more irregularities occurred this year than in the two previous polls. They issued a joint statement challenging the poll results after a meeting at former president Megawati Soekarnoputri's house on Jl. Teuku Umar, Central Jakarta, on April 14.
Prominent figures in attendance included Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), National Mandate Party (PAN) member Toto Daryanto, United Development Party (PPP) member Rusdi Hanafi, Crescent Star Party (PBB) chief patron Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) member Ferry B. Siregar.