Jayapura, 15/4 (Jubi) – Voter rolls in Papua province may have been inflated before last week’s elections, said Natalius Pigai, a member of the election monitoring team from the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM).
Metro TV reported that the number of eligible voters in Papua increased from 3.2 million in 2009 to 5.3 million in 2014, according to Metro TV.
“The inflation of the voter rolls was allegedly done by regents or mayors,” Pigai said (15/4).
The motive for the inflation was to pave the way for regional administrative divisions, known as pemekaran, and an increase in general election funds.
Other forms of violations found in the April 9 legislative elections include denial of voting rights as well as a lack of facilities for voters with disabilities and those in remote areas, prisoners and hospital patients, monitors said.
According data from the General Election Commission the population of Papua and West Papua was at 5.3 million in 2013. Papua has a population of 4.2 million while West Papua has 1.1 million people.
According to the 2010 Population Census, Papua has 2.8 million people and the number of eligible voters for the gubernatorial election in 2012 was 2.7 million. Data showed that around 127,000 people in Papua were not eligible to vote.
Early in 2013, the Papuan Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS Papua) estimated that the number of voters in the gubernatorial election was approximately 1.9 million while the Papua election commission recorded 2.7 million voters, or a difference of around 800,000 people.
BPS Papua head Didik Koesbianto said voter rolls were based on the data of Population and Civil Registration (Discapil) which records those who have Identity Card (KTP) or other forms of official identification. (Jubi / Victor Mambor/ Tina)
