Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Health Ministry disclosed that as of February 20, some 94 poll workers had died during the course of the country's recent general elections.

The death toll increased significantly from the ministry's count of 57 recorded in February 17. The deaths were found at several polling stations in 16 provinces.

The ministry recorded 51 deaths of local poll administrators (KPPS), 18 deaths of Community Protection Agency (Linmas) personnel, nine deaths of witnesses, eight deaths of election officers, six deaths of Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) officers, and two deaths of voting workers.

In terms of regions, the ministry recorded 24 deaths in West Java, 19 in East Java, 15 in Central Java, nine in Jakarta, six in South Sulawesi, and five in Banten.

Other deaths recorded were two each in North Sumatra, South Sumatra, and West Kalimantan and one each in Aceh, West Sumatra, Lampung, Yogyakarta, Central Kalimantan, and East Kalimantan.

In terms of the age group, 28 deaths were found among poll workers, aged between 41 and 50 years; 29 deaths in the age bracket of 51-60 years, 16 deaths in workers aged 31-40 years, 13 deaths in those in the age group of 21-30 years, four deaths in workers above 60, and four deaths in workers in the age band of 17-20 years.

Meanwhile, the ministry noted that the causes of death included heart disease, accidents, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, hypertension, cerebrovascular condition, and multiple organ failure.

The Indonesian Health Ministry also recorded that 13,675 poll workers were being treated in hospitals. Some 6,963 of those undergoing treatment were KPPS personnel.

ANTARA had reported earlier that in a bid to prevent the recurrence of fatalities, the General Elections Commission (KPU) had issued a policy restricting the age bracket of prospective KPPS recruits to 17-55 years.

On Wednesday (February 14, 2024), more than 203 million voters residing in Indonesia flocked to 820,161 polling stations to cast their ballot.

Polling stations at 84 electoral districts in 38 provinces served registered voters from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time.

Soon after all registered voters had cast their votes, KPPS personnel began conducting a manual vote count for the presidential and vice presidential pairs as well as candidates running for the House of Representatives (DPR), the provincial and district/city legislative bodies (DPRD-I and DPRD-II), and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

The KPU will announce the final result of the manual vote count by March 20 at the latest.

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Translator: Mecca YNP, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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