India’s 2014 elections far surpass those of Indonesia in terms of scale and voters, yet holds out lessons for Jakarta in the efficient management of the election process.

INDONESIA WILL hold its presidential elections on 9 July 2014, three months after its legislative elections in April. As with past elections, Indonesia faces technical challenges, such as ballot printing, circulation, counting and disposal. Indonesia should consider opting for the electronic voting (e-voting) mechanism to alleviate such problems and eliminate the logistical nightmare that occurs in every election year.

As the largest democracy in the world and one of the earliest adaptors of e-voting, India serves as a fine example for Indonesia. India first introduced an e-voting system in 1982 for the local state elections, and subsequently for the national elections in 2003. So far, India has implemented e-voting for two national elections, garnering roughly 400 million votes each – a turnout rate of about 60 per cent. India is currently experimenting with a remote voting system via the internet so that in the future, voters will not be required to queue at polling booths. This system will be better able to accommodate overseas Indians.

… Fitri Bintang Timur is an Associate Research Fellow and Keoni Indrabayu Marzuki is a Research Associate at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.