Indonesia's polls watchdog wants re-election for postal voters in KL
Indonesia's central Election Monitoring Body (Bawaslu) has recommended that the 319,293 Indonesian postal voters registered at the Malaysian embassy in Kuala Lumpur recast their votes for the Indonesian elections.
This follows the recent discovery of more than 50,000 marked ballot papers at two locations in Kajang and Bangi last week...
Indonesia's central Election Monitoring Body (Bawaslu) has recommended that the 319,293 Indonesian postal voters registered at the Malaysian embassy in Kuala Lumpur recast their votes for the Indonesian elections.
This follows the recent discovery of more than 50,000 marked ballot papers at two locations in Kajang and Bangi last week.
Bawaslu chief commissioner Abhan said the recommendation to Indonesia's Election Commission was made after evidence was found of the overseas election committee not carrying out its duties in a professional manner.
"We made this recommendation for a re-election involving postal voters," he told a press conference at Bawaslu's headquarters in Jakarta today.
"Given that all votes received from overseas were supposed to be counted tomorrow, we also recommended that the postal votes from Kuala Lumpur not be counted," he said.
Abhan also confirmed that Indonesian authorities have thus far not been given access to verify the marked ballot papers seized from the two locations in Malaysia.
Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said on Sunday that police were assisting their Indonesian counterparts following two police reports lodged over the incident.
Fuzi said since there was no breach of Malaysian law, his officers had reached out to Indonesian authorities to determine the next course of action.
Beyond a re-election, Abhan said Bawaslu also recommended for a replacement of the two officers in charge of the Indonesian elections in Kuala Lumpur, including its deputy ambassador to Malaysia, Krishna KU Hannan.
As the body in charge of monitoring election offences throughout the campaign period, Abhan also revealed its other findings, including alleged attempts to bribe voters with goods and cash.
Indonesians overseas had cast their votes for the republic's presidential and legislative elections last Sunday, ahead of nationwide polling tomorrow.
In total, some 1.5 million Indonesians are registered to vote in Malaysia through postal ballots at five locations – Johor Baru, Pulau Pinang, Kuching, Tawau and Kota Kinabalu.
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