Millions of Indonesians came to polling stations nationwide today to cast their votes in the first ever simultaneous general elections to elect the country’s pair of State leadership and members of the legislatures at the national and regional levels.
Data at the General Elections Commission (KPU) reveals that the number of registered voters in the 2024 elections is around 204.8 million voters. This number increases by around 12 million compared to the 2019 election. This number consists of voters residing in Indonesia and abroad, spread across 514 regencies/cities, 38 provinces and 128 representative countries.
Voting was carried out at 820,161 polling stations (TPS) for domestic voters spread across 38 provinces, 514 regencies/cities, 7,277 sub-districts and 83,731 villages. Meanwhile abroad, there are 3,059 voting points in 128 working areas of the Overseas Election Committee (PPLN).
The method of voting as stated in Article 67 Paragraph (2) of Law Number 7 of 1953 concerning the Election of Constituent and DPR Members which is the legal basis for holding the 1955 Election. In this regulation it is stated that voters cast their votes by piercing a sign or picture.
In the 2024 elections, voters abroad can exercise their right to vote using three prepared voting methods. They can either go to poling stations, cast their votes by mail or put their punched ballots inside ballot boxes provided by the PPLN.
The overseas polling stations are located within the jurisdiction of the Indonesian Government, namely at representative offices such as the Indonesian Embassy, Indonesian Consulate General, Indonesian Trade and Economic Office, or Indonesian schools abroad. However, limited space means that not all voters can be served using the TPSLN method.
Overseas collection process
In the overseas general elections in London, England, there was chaos because voting rights holders did not receive warnings regarding the voting on February 11, 2024, resulting in chaos.
This chaos originated from a video broadcast via the TikTok account @razhar06 because many Indonesian citizens were said to be unable to vote and claimed to have lost their right to vote.
Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asy’ari said that based on information received from the local PPLN, confusion occurred due to differences in information regarding the implementation time.
According to Indonesian citizens who were present at the location, they were allowed to arrive until 6 pm local time, but because there was a policy regarding health protocols, those who arrived before the closing time were not allowed to enter.
Hasyim, however, said that those who were already at the polling station before 6 pm local time were still allowed to cast their votes. PPLN even exercised discretion until 8 pm local time to allow those who already had got queue numbers to cast their votes.
On the other hand, regarding the video and narrative presented, it can be concluded that voters cannot enter the election location building because they believe it has passed the specified time limit.
Quick count
Meanwhile, the results of the 2024 presidential election quick count will begin to be announced two hours after voting is completed.
The deadline for announcing the results of the quick count has become an obligation because it is regulated by Law No. 7/2017 concerning Elections. This regulation, specifically Article 448, regulates community or non-government participation in quick count activities.
Then, article 449 paragraph 1 explains that public participation in the form of dissemination of information, political education for voters, surveys or opinion polls regarding elections, as well as fast counting of election results must follow the provisions regulated by the General Election Commission (KPU).
“The organizer of the quick count activity is obliged to notify the source of funds, the methodology used, and that the results of the fast count carried out are not the official results of the Election Organizer,” reads article 449 paragraph (4) of the Election Law.
Then, the Election Law stipulates that the announcement of the estimated results of the election quick count can only be made no sooner than two hours after the completion of voting in western Indonesia.
Meanwhile, quick count data (after the results come out) can be opened via the following link:
● Bisnis.com: https://pemilu.bisnis.com/quick-count-2024
● Poltracking: https://www.youtube.com/@Poltracking/featured
Even though this method is regulated in the Election Law, it should be understood that the quick count is not the final election result (real count) from the KPU, so its accuracy cannot be guaranteed 100 percent.
