Hong Kong (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Consulate General (KJRI) in Hong Kong will be temporarily closed for public activities, except for immigration services, until April 30 Consulate general Tri Haryat said here on Tuesday that this was because some 7.2 tons of ballots packed into 362 sealed packages were being stored on the office’s fourth floor since March 31.


“There are ballots stored here, so we need to keep the documents safe until the elections," Haryat stated.

Some 140,000 Indonesian diaspora and migrant workers in Hong Kong will cast their ballots at the 32 polling stations from April 7 to April 14.

According to the Indonesian Overseas Elections Committee in Hong Kong, a total of 180,232 Indonesian diaspora in China were registered to vote.

Similar to other overseas polling stations, the voting in Hong Kong will be held on April 17.

For this year’s election, Haryat said that polling stations were set up across three locations, including at Victoria Park, to avoid disturbances. “We have learned from the previous elections, and therefore, this time, we set up dozens of polling stations,” Haryat noted.

Five years ago, the presidential election in Hong Kong was centered only at Victoria Park's polling station, and as the result, the committee was overwhelmed while helping people cast their ballots.

Indonesia will hold its first ever simultaneous presidential and legislative elections on April 17. The incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo and his running mate Ma'ruf Amin will compete against Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno.




Translator: Azizah Fitriyanti, Genta Tenri
Editor: Suharto
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