"Although we have not set any target, we are optimistic that the participation will definitely be higher than in legislative elections 2014 and presidential elections 2009," Ferry stated here on Tuesday.
Although KPU did not set a target for participation rate, Ferry assessed that presidential voting method, which is simpler than Pileg, can increase peoples desire to cast their votes at polling stations (TPS).
"Meanwhile, the community is passionate about the presidential elections, and also, KPU has socialized presidential elections step by step, but this is not the dominant factor," he added.
At the presidential elections 2009, from among 176.4 million voters in the voters list (DPT), as many as 127.9 million people, or 73 percent, had exercised their franchise. Around 48.4 million voters, or 27 percent, had abstained.
The participation rate had decreased compared with the level of participation in the 2004 presidential elections, which had reached 84.1 percent.
According to Indonesias KPU, a total of 190,307,134 eligible voters have been registered for the presidential election on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, including 2,038,711 overseas voters, with 486,866 polling stations across the archipelago.
The election will be contested by two pairs: Prabowo Subianto with Hatta Rajasa as his running mate and Jokowi who pairs with Jusuf Kalla. (*)
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Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
