Hundreds Died in Indonesia of Exhaustion Counting Millions of Vote Ballots

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(Newswire.net — April 29, 2019) — Indonesia – Indonesia had the first democratic elections which turned out to be deadly to hundreds that manually counted millions of ballots.

In merged parliamentary and regional elections on April 17, some 260 million people, voted at one of the 810.000 polling stations. Voters had to use five ballots so there were over half a billion sheets needed to be chartered, Russia Today reports.

Maintaining an election of eight hours, in a peaceful country with a width of 3100 miles spanning from the eastern to the western border, proved to be a Herculean project and deadly for those who had to count the ballot papers manually.

From Saturday, 272 members of polling boards died, mostly from diseases associated with overtime, while 1,878 fell ill, Arief Priyo Susanto, spokesman for the General Elections Commission (KPU), said on Sunday.

Susanto adds that the Health Ministry on April 23 urged health care institutions to provide the best possible care to diseased members of polling boards, while the finance ministry is working on compensation for the families of the deceased.

The Electoral Commission was ordered to investigate the circumstances which led to the increase in the number of deceased vote ballot counters.

“The Election Commission was not cautious in managing the workload of staff,” said Ahmad Muzani, deputy chairman of the opposition presidential candidate Priyo Subiant’s campaign, reported, Reuters cited Indonesian media. The Election Commission argue that personal health of workers is not under the body’s jurisdiction.

Media reports findings that imply the “incredible stress” is a result of the pressure amid a cost-saving move at electoral stations. Hundreds of millions of votes was manually counted under a harsh environment and time pressure to elect the winner of the first democratic elections in the country.

The Election Commission will conclude the counting of votes and announce the winners of the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 22.