More than 270 election staff in Indonesia die counting votes

This article is more than 12 months old

Apr 29, 2019 06:00 am

JAKARTA Ten days after Indonesia held the world's biggest single-day elections, more than 270 workers have died mostly of fatigue-related illnesses caused by hours counting ballot papers by hand, an official said yesterday.

Voting was estimated to have drawn 80 per cent of the total 193 million voters, who each had to punch up to five ballot papers. But conducting the vote has proven to be a Herculean feat and deadly for officials, who had to count ballot papers by hand.

As of Saturday night, 272 election officials had died, mostly from overwork-related illnesses, while 1,878 others had fallen ill, said Mr Arief Priyo Susanto, spokesman for the General Elections Commission.

The commission will announce winners of the elections on May 22. - REUTERS