A video of people unpacking bags containing marked ballots in favour of President Joko Widodo and his running mate, Ma’ruf Amin at an empty store in Selangor, Malaysia, has been widely circulated on social media.
The video shows people holding up the ballots, claiming that they have been paid to vote for Joko Widodo and the National Democat, or NasDem, party’s legislative candidate, Achmad. The Jokowi-Ma’ruf camp and NasDem party have denied the allegations.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) aims to complete their investigation for the alleged vote rigging in two days. KPU commissioner, Hasyim Asy’ari, stated that they aim to solve the case before 14th April 2019, which is polling day for Indonesian citizens living in Malaysia.
“Our team is currently investigating the case in Selangor. The Bawaslu (Election Supervisory Board) aims to conclude the issue before 14th April,” Hasyim confirmed at a press conference in the Bawaslu office on 11th April. Two KPU commissioners will fly to Selangor to investigate the case.
“Inshaallah (God willing), we will begin the case [by Friday]. [Thursday], they will arrive in Malaysia, and announce on Friday morning,” said Wahyu Setiawan, another one of KPU’s commissioners.
Bawaslu member, Fritz Edward Siregar, has requested the KPU postpone the elections in Malaysia. However, Wahyu said that the KPU is eagre to collect the most accurate and reliable information before taking further action.
There are 985,216 registered Indonesian voters across Malaysia, with 255 polling stations spread across Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor, Perak, Kuala Trengganu, and Kelantan.
Source: Tempo, The Jakarta Post
Image: Liputan 6