MK ruling a breakthrough, but not enough: Experts

JAKARTA: The recent Constitutional Court ruling allowing unregistered voters to cast their ballots using ID cards is a breakthrough, but it may not solve all the ongoing issues with the electoral roll, a panel of experts say.

"The ruling solves only half the problem. It doesn't solve the issue regarding multiple entries and fake names," a member of the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), Bambang Eko Cahyo, said at a discussion Tuesday.

He claimed to have received dozens of reports about people whose names were registered multiple times on the electoral roll.

Director of the Indonesian Civilized Circle (Lima), Ray Rangkuti, said the sudden ruling not only failed to completely resolve the mismanagement of the electoral roll, but it would not lead to an increase in registered voters either.

"Voters planning to use their IDs to cast ballots are being treated as a last priority. The verdict only allocates a one-hour period for them to vote," he said. "If it takes five minutes for staff at a polling station to verify a voter's information, and two minutes for him or her to cast ballot, then the ruling only opens the door to voting for around 10 unregistered voters per polling station." -JP

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