London (ANTARA) - Some 16,045 members of the Indonesian diaspora will be able to exercise their franchise on Saturday, Apr 13, for the presidential and legislative elections in Germany followed by vote counting on Apr 17.

Three overseas polling stations in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg will be readied for those set to exercise their democratic right. In the meantime, voters residing far from the polling stations may also mail their ballots to the Overseas Election Committee in the three cities.

Prior to the elections, some groups had held campaigning for the duo presidential candidates -- incumbent President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and challenger Prabowo Subianto -- in Berlin, Germany’s largest city.

While campaigning in Berlin on Sunday (Apr 7), the incumbent’s supporters, called Gerakan Wadyabala Jokowi (GWJ), had appealed to members of the Indonesian diaspora in Germany to cast their vote for Jokowi and his running mate Ma’ruf Amin during the presidential election.

The group’s chairman, Andi Tinellung, in Berlin on Monday, made an appeal to eligible voters in Germany to exercise their right to vote.

The opposition’s supporter group had also conducted campaigning for Prabowo and his running mate Sandiaga Uno in Berlin on Mar 30, in which 300 members of the Indonesian diaspora from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Austria attended.

The General Elections Committee (KPU) has given confirmation that 192,828,520 people in total are eligible to cast their ballot for the elections on Apr 17. On the other hand, some 2,058,191 voters will cast their ballots overseas on Apr 8-14.

EDITED BY INE

Translator: Azizah Fitriyanti, Genta Tenri
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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