Overseas Voter Participation Increases 83 Percent

Jakarta, July 17 (Antara) - Overseas voter participation during the 2014 presidential election was higher in comparison to the last election, claimed Chairman of the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) Working Group Wahid Supriyadi. "Based on our preliminary data, the enthusiasm of overseas voters in the 2014 presidential election has increased 83 percent," Wahid Supriyadi stated on the sidelines of a vote recapitulation meeting for overseas presidential election at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters on Thursday. Wahid noted that the overseas voter participation in some PPLN offices has increased 800 percent. "In some PPLN offices overseas, for instance, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), voter participation has increased 800 percent," he added. Meanwhile, the PPLN faced logistical distribution problems in implementing the voting and counting process. "We have some problems related to logistics distribution due to distance and location," Supriyadi emphasized. Earlier, the Central KPU on Thursday (July 17) commenced the process of vote recapitulation of the presidential election conducted in 96 countries. "We will carry out overseas vote recapitulation today. The recapitulation is based on Model D-1, which is the result of vote counting in polling stations abroad (TPSLN) and drop boxes," KPU Chairman Husni Kamil Manik remarked in his office on Thursday. The implementation of voting and counting abroad is organized by the KPU in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the execution of overseas election between July 4 and July 6, the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN) faced varied issues. "Problems were encountered during the implementation of voting abroad in Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and Malaysia. It will be submitted by the PPLN Working Group and is expected to be part of the discussion of the plenary meeting," Manik stated. The recapitulation of overseas votes is scheduled to last until Friday (July 18). "We hope that we can work effectively. We target that the recapitulation process can be completed by July 18," he added.