Death toll of poll workers in Indonesia’s election rises to 71

Jakarta, Feb 20 : The number of poll workers who died in Indonesias general election rose to 71, official sources said.

"Reports up until February 18 indicate that there were also 4,567 poll workers who were sick while on duty," said Chairman of the General Election Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asyari on Monday.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin added, "For us, even one death is too many," despite the fact that the number of deaths has significantly dropped from the previous election.

There were 894 poll workers that lost their lives during last general election in 2019, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the 2024 election, of the 6.8 million workers that had health screenings, 398,000 of them had comorbidities, primarily heart disease and hypertension.

Sadikin hopes to see an end to poll worker deaths in the upcoming elections.

Indonesia held the worlds largest single-day election on February 14, with about 204 million voters throughout its 38 provinces.

int/khz