Ten days after Indonesia held the world’s biggest single-day elections, more than 270 election staff have died, mostly of fatigue-related illnesses caused by long hours of work counting millions of ballot papers by hand, an official said on Sunday (April 28).
The April 17 elections were the first time the country of 260 million people combined the presidential vote with national and regional parliamentary ones, with an aim to cut costs.
Voting was largely peaceful and was estimated to have drawn 80 per cent of the total 193 million voters, who each had to punch up to five ballot papers in more than 800,000 polling stations.
But conducting the eight-hour vote in a country that stretches more than 5,000km from its western to eastern tips has proven to be both a Herculean logistical feat and a deadly one for officials, who had to count ballot papers by hand.
As of Saturday night, 272 election officials had died, mostly from overwork-related illnesses, while 1,878 others had fallen ill, said Mr Arief Priyo Susanto, spokesman of the General Elections Commission (KPU).
The Health Ministry issued a circular letter on April 23 urging health facilities to give utmost care for sick election staff, while the Finance Ministry is working on compensation for families of the dead, Mr Susanto added.
The KPU has come under fire due to the rising death toll.
Indonesian workers transport ballot boxes for the general elections at the Bonto Matinggi village, Maros, South Sulawesi on April 16, 2019.
“The KPU is not prudent in managing the workload of staff,” said Mr Ahmad Muzani, deputy chairman of the campaign of opposition presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Mr Prabowo, who independent pollsters said was the loser of the 2019 polls based on quick counts, had alleged widespread cheating, and his campaign claimed some officials punched ballots in favour of incumbent President Joko Widodo. The president’s security minister said the allegations were baseless.
Both candidates have declared victory, though quick counts suggested that Mr Widodo had won the election by around nine to 10 percentage points.
The KPU will conclude vote counting and announce winners of the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 22.
