Disasters, political fatigue blamed for Indonesia's regional polls’ low turnouts

A local poll administrator (KPPS) serves a voter coming to a flooded polling station for the 2024 simultaneous regional elections in Medan, North Sumatra, on Nov. 27, 2024. According to the Medan Elections Commission (KPU), voting in 45 polling stations across the city was postponed due to a flood hitting the provincial capital. - Photo: Antara

JAKARTA: The country’s largest simultaneous regional head elections have been marred somewhat by low voter turnout, mostly due to disasters and political exhaustion following the eventful general election held earlier this year.

While there has yet to be an official count of the voters who cast their ballots in Wednesday's (Nov 27) elections, several regions reported a low voter turnout compared with February’s presidential and legislative election turnouts, with many voters abstaining from voting, a tradition known as golput.