90% Indonesian to cast votes in 2014 elections

Results of a survey jointly conducted by prominent survey agencies in the country disclosed Tuesday showed that 90 percent of the country's population would use cast votes in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled in April and July respectively this year. According to the survey results, public enthusiasm for elections was apparently increasing if compared to those of in the previous elections, an official with one of the survey agencies said. "It shows public's high trust in democracy system," Rakesh Sharma, the director of International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) said here. The survey was jointly carried out by Indonesia Survey Institution (LSI) late last year, involving 1,890 respondents from 33 provinces across the country. The results showed that 88 percent men and 91 percent women involved in the survey have planed to cast their votes in the elections. Rakesh said that 90 percent of population took part in 1999 the elections. That figure decreased in 2004 and 2009 elections, recorded at 80 percent and 70 percent respectively. Should circumstances that badly influencing people's enthusiasm to take part in elections emerge before the elections, Rakesh said that public participation in elections would at least be similar to that in 2004. LSI Director Hendro Prasetyo said it also showed people's increasing confidence that elections would bring changes in the country. Twelve political parties have been legalized by Indonesia's General Election Commission (KPU) to partake in the upcoming elections. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who serves two presidencies would no longer run in the presidential election as the constitution bans doing so. Indonesia would see a brand new voting system in the upcoming elections as it would apply e-voting mechanism, which would ultimately make using voters' ID cards possible. Such an ID card inserted with micro chips has already been delivered to Indonesian citizens since 2012.