Unless the General Elections Commission (KPU) fixes a data entry problem on the final voter list and restores trust with the public, then millions of eligible voters in the 2014 general elections could be deterred from voting, an election expert has warned.
Political analyst Ramlan Surbakti of Airlangga University said errors related to the entry of voter data onto the list had triggered questions about the KPU's professionalism and impartiality.
"Public perception on the problematic voter list is worse than the 'objective condition' of what the KPU has done in the field. The KPU must do something to restore trust with the public, otherwise voter turnout may be affected," said Ramlan, a former KPU member.
A recent opinion poll conducted by the country's leading newspaper Kompas published on Nov. 18 showed that 54.8 percent of 792 respondents believed the KPU wouldn't be able to solve the problems affecting the final voter list.
The survey also found that 56.8 percent of the respondents said they were unsatisfied with the poll body's performance.
Ramlan said that voters would be hesitant to cast their ballots if they believed that the KPU had credibility problems. "People will definitely say, why should I cast my ballot if the final voter list is marred with problems?" he said.
Ramlan also said that losing candidates could cite problems with the final voter list to challenge election results.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has estimated that the country's population will reach 251 million people on legislative election day in April 2014. The agency has also estimated that eligible voters should account for 70 percent of the total population, or 188.2 million people.
In the 2004 general elections the KPU recorded 147 million voters out of the total population of 218 million, while in the 2009 general elections the poll body recorded 171 million voters out of the total population of 231 million.
On Nov. 4, the KPU announced 186,612,255 people on the final voter list, though 10.4 million still lacked a citizen registration number due to the data entry problem. The KPU, however, is working with the Home Ministry to sort out the problem and has reported progress.
"The Home Ministry confirms that around 5.6 of the 10.4 million voters already have their citizen registration number," KPU commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said recently.
The KPU had originally set a deadline of Dec. 4 for assigning the missing registration numbers, but it recently extended the deadline to Dec. 31.
"There is no problem with extending the deadline as the final voter list has already been announced and the extension does not mean adding more eligible voters to the list," said Ferry.
Khoirunnisa Agustyati, a researcher with The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) called on the KPU to be transparent about what had happened in the data entry snafu.
"The KPU should tell the public whether the only problem with the 10.4 million names is missing citizen registration numbers or if there are other issues," she said. (hrl)