JAKARTA, KOMPAS -- The state must guarantee that all qualified citizens be able to exercise their voting rights in the 2017 regional elections on February 15. Legal measures need to be considered in order to address the voting rights issue that emerged ahead of elections.
Such measures are needed because, according to the Home Ministry’s population and civil registry directorate general, there are about 4 million residents in 101 regions that will hold elections who did not get their personal data recorded to process their electronic identity (e-ID) cards.
If their names were not registered on the voters list, those 4 million people would potentially not be able to vote. According to Law No. 10/2016 on regional elections, people who are not registered on the voters list are able to exercise their rights if they have e-IDs. If they have no e-ID, they could still exercise their rights as long as they get a notification letter from the local population and civil registry office. A notification letter can be obtained if they had their personal data recorded.
Responding to this issue, Airlangga University political professor Ramlan Surbakti said at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Wednesday (1/2) that the General Elections Commission (KPU) was expected to issue a policy so that all citizens could exercise their voting rights.
“The state must guarantee [the voting rights of citizens]. They can exercise their voting rights by showing a letter verifying that they live in a particular neighborhood RT/RW,” Ramlan said.
Issue
Maintaining voting rights has become an everyday issue ahead of the elections. In order to settle a similar issue almost eight years ago, the Constitutional Court on July 6, 2009 ruled that ID cards and passports could be used to vote in the July 8, 2009 elections. The ruling was issued after several parties said there were problems with the voters list in that millions of people would potentially loose their voting rights for the 2009 Presidential Election.
Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo yesterday instructed his staff to coordinate with the KPU to find a solution for the 2017 elections.
One solution would be to allow unregistered voters who have no e-IDs to vote by showing their Kartu Keluarga (family members card). This is similar to the regulation for the 2015 elections.
“Whether it is possible for residents to come to the polling station by bringing a family members document, it is still being reviewed,” he said.
However, KPU commissioner Sigit Pamungkas said his office could not issue a particular policy allowing voters to use their voting rights beyond what is stipulated in Law No. 10/2016. The KPU must ensure the legal aspects of the regional elections.
“If an individual is not registered on the voters list, has no e-ID card or notification letter, the KPU cannot facilitate. That is because it is difficult to confirm or prove the identity of the voters,” Sigit said.
The KPU, Sigit said, cannot apply regulations from Law No. 8/2015 that were used in the 2015 elections. At that time, if a citizen was not registered on the voters list and had no e-ID, he or she could still vote by showing other identity cards such as a family members document up to an hour before voting day ended.
The Home Ministry\'s population and civil registry director general, Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, said the use of the family members document to certify one’s voting rights would be difficult because it violates Law No. 10/2016.
Zudan said that at the beginning of this year there were about 6.5 million people who had not had their personal data recorded. Of that number, 4 million were in the 101 regions that will hold elections in 2017.
Although their data was not recorded, Zuhan believed those citizens had all been included on the voters list for the 2017 elections submitted to the KPU. “So, although residents have no e-IDs and have not got their personal data recorded, they can still vote because their names are already on the voters list,” he said.
The stipulation that citizens, if they are unregistered, could use e-IDs to vote could encourage people to get their personal data recorded and apply for e-IDs, Zudan added. Eventually, the population data will become more accurate as the government is aiming for each citizen to have a single identity number.
“We aim to finish it before 2019 so the population data for the 2019 elections will be more accurate. There would be no more problems regarding the voters list,” he said.
There, he said if the government allows voters to use family members documents or other identify cards to vote, it would be a setback.
Expiry date
Although some e-ID were issued with expiry dates, Zudan said, Law No. 24/2013 on population administration declared the dates void and the e-IDs effective for the lifetimes of the holders, just like those issued after the law was passed.
“So, if a voter is unregistered on the voters list and his or her e-ID mentions an expiry date of 2017, there is no need to worry. They do not have to renew the e-ID because it is a lifetime ID,” he said.
(NTA/APA/GAL/IRE/ESA/ VIO/JUM/BAY/TAM)
