Jayapura, Jubi – Statistics Indonesia (BPS) of Papua Province noted that the number of voters in the 2024 General Election in Papua Province would be 700,000. The number is calculated from the total population of Papua, based on 2022 census data of one million people.
“The number of voters in each regency or city does vary, around 65 to 70 percent of the total population of each regency or city,” BPS Papua Coordinator of the Social Statistics Function Sugiyanto to Jubi in Jayapura City on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
The figure is much lower compared to the Papua Permanent Voter List (DPT) in the 2019 elections that was 3.5 million people. This is mainly because Papua Province had been divided into three new provinces, South Papua Province, Central Papua Province, and Mountainous Papua Province.
According to him, the number of voters in South Papua Province in the 2024 elections would be around 350,0000 out of a population of 522,000; in Papua 1.1 million out of a total population of 1.4 million; and in Mountainous Papua 1.1 million out of a total population of 1.4 million.
“The population in Central Papua and Mountainous Papua indeed has a similar figure based on the 2022 census,” Sugiyanto said.
Regarding voter data, Sugiyanto explained that the Papua General Election Commission (KPU) had coordinated with BPS Papua. The coordination was carried out to equalize the data while removing the names of voters who had died from the previous election voter data.
“Not long ago we also sat down with the KPU to discuss the number of voters for the 2024 election. So, if you look at the population, it matches the BPS data. For Matching and Research, that is the authority of the KPU. BPS is not involved in field research. KPU only confirms the data of deceased residents, to then equalize the data available to the KPU as voters. After that, they do the matching in the field,” he explained.
Sugiyanto admitted that until now his party had not submitted population data from the 2022 Population Census which had been disaggregated between residents of Papua Province and residents of the three new provinces. This is because there is no BPS office in the three new provinces.
According to him, of the three new provincial governments resulting from the division of Papua, the Central Papua Provincial Government is the province that communicates most intensively with BPS Papua. “The one that has communicated intensely with us [as BPS] is the Regional Development Acceleration Agency of Central Papua Province,” he said. (*)
