Overseas balloting goes smoothly, but turnout low

JAKARTA. Each Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) in 130 cities around the world has wrapped up its voting for the legislative election, and all the ballots are now being kept in secure locations before being counted on April 9.

The ballot boxes have been sealed and secured at diplomatic missions under close surveillance from Jakarta.

The ballots will simultaneously be tallied with results from Election Day on April 9. Mailed ballots, meanwhile, will only be counted on April 17.

A total of 36 polling stations were set up for voting in Singapore, which took place on Sunday, to cater to the 112,123 registered voters in the city-state, Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Andri Hadi said as quoted by Antara.

Of the total number of voters, 12,608 opted to cast their votes via mail. Andri said the Singapore PPLN had received around 10,000 mailed ballots as of Sunday.

Voting also took place on Sunday in Malaysia.

“About 1.2 million Indonesians have been registered as voters in Malaysia. If 400,000 of them cast their ballots, that would be a good result and I would be satisfied,” Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Herman Prayitno said.

Meanwhile, about 400 Indonesian expatriates in Nigeria also arrived at polling stations in Lagos and Abuja over the weekend said Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria Sudirman Haseng.

“This is to tell the world that Indonesians worldwide can now vote for who they want as their leaders and representatives. Indonesians in Nigeria support the democratic process,” Sudirman said as quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria.

In London, UK, 696 Indonesians, mostly students, arrived at polling stations to cast their votes on Saturday.

A number of voters, who had previously mailed their ballots, still visited the stations to meet their fellow countrymen and enjoy Indonesian food at the “Indonesian Bazaar” set up at the Indonesian Embassy in Mayfair.

Of the 7,051 voters registered in Britain, about 5,000 opted to post their ballots.

Voting in Cairo, Egypt, which also took place on Saturday, ran smoothly, despite the political tension in the Middle Eastern country.

“Thank God, 2,310 Indonesians have cast their votes in the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo,” Egypt PPLN head Muhammad Saifuddin said.

In a bid to boost voter turnout, the committee offered door prizes and provided free meals and a shuttle service for students.

Hundreds of Indonesians in Germany also went to the polls in three cities, Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg, on Saturday. More than 80 percent of the total 13,394 registered voters in the country opted to cast their votes by mail.

In the United Arab Emirates, 1,010 Indonesians went to polling stations to exercise their right to vote on Saturday.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) previously announced that overseas voting for Indonesians living abroad could proceed from March 30 to April 6.

According to the KPU, 2 million or 1.08 percent of Indonesia’s total 185.8 million registered voters were expatriates. Some observers, however, voiced their concerns about low voter turnout at the foreign polling stations. Several PPLN reported that turnout was less than 15 percent in some countries.

In Hong Kong, for example, where balloting took place on Saturday, turnout was under 10 percent, according to the KPU. In the 2009 legislative election, overall election turnout for overseas voters stood at 22 percent. (BT Saragih)