Elections, Most Papuan People Stay at Home

VIVAnews - Hundreds of thousands of West Papua people have likely backed out of the elections for the governor's race. In addition to lack of information about the gubernatorial candidates, voters are now dealing with terrors launched by certain group of people.

In Manokwari, the capital of West Papua, four districts sent back the logistics needed for the elections. The officers of the polling stations argued that the situation occurred since no security guarantee was given by the Central Elections Commission (KPU).

25 polling stations in Sanggeng, Manokwari, home of a gubernatorial candidate, were not open for voters. As a result, 7669 balloters, including the candidate, failed to vote.

"It is possible that only 50 percent out of 515,535 voters in West Papua who are registered for the polls coming to the available polling stations to cast vote," said Wahidin Suaib, member of the Elections Monitoring Agency.

He again called attention to a shocking fact which shows that most voters were not informed of the precise day of the elections. "People are confuserd. They have just found out that today is the elections day," he said.

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Coverage by: Banjir Ambarita | Papua