Ten days after Indonesia held elections, at least 272 election workers have died from illnesses caused by long hours of polls-related work, an official said on Sunday.

Arief Priyo Susanto, the spokesman for Indonesia's General Elections Commission (KPU), said that as of Saturday night, 272 election officials had died from overwork, while 1,878 others had fallen sick.

Susanto said the Finance Ministry is working to provide compensation for families of the deceased, while health facilities will be given to the sick election staff.

Read more: Indonesia elections: Personality, religion and politics

Massive elections

The April 17 Indonesian elections were a massive undertaking, with presidential, parliamentary, regional and local elections all taking place at the same time in a country with 193 million eligible voters spread across three time zones; from Papua in the east to the tip of Sumatra over 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) away in the west.

According to the Australia-based think tank Lowy Institute, these five simultaneous elections combined more than 245,000 candidates, contesting a total of 20,000 seats in local, regional and national legislatures. The elections involved nearly 6,000,000 workers and 810,000 polling stations. Lowy dubbed it the "world's most complicated election."

The Southeast Asian country combined the presidential vote with national, regional and parliamentary ones for the first time in its history, in an effort to reduce election costs. But conducting the eight-hour vote in the world's largest island country, with 17,000 thousand islands stretched over more than 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles), proved to be an unhealthy task for many election staffers. In Indonesia, the election staff have to count millions of ballot papers by hand.

Read more: Opinion: Joko Widodo's last chance to fulfill his promises to Indonesia

Criticism

The country's election authorities have come under fire due to the rising death toll.

"The KPU is not prudent in managing the workload of staff," news website Kumparan.com quoted Ahmad Muzani, deputy chairman of opposition presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto's campaign, as saying.

Prabowo alleged widespread irregularities in the April 17 vote, with his campaign claiming some officials punched ballots in favor of the incumbent President Joko Widodo.

Exit polls suggest Widodo won the election by 9-10% points. The election commission will announce the official results of presidential, parliamentary and regional votes on May 22.

In Indonesia, voting doesn't have to be boring An election run by the walking dead Despite their scary appearance, these zombie election officers are responsible for making sure that voting runs smoothly at this polling station in Semarang located in Central Java.

In Indonesia, voting doesn't have to be boring Using scare tactics This polling station is located near a cemetery and is decorated with Halloween-like horror decorations. The two men here are security personnel dressed in traditional Javanese warrior uniforms.

In Indonesia, voting doesn't have to be boring Drawing positive attention This unique polling station attracted the attention of an election commissioner from the capital Jakarta, who visited to witness the creative promotional strategy of the local election committee.

In Indonesia, voting doesn't have to be boring Taking advantage of World Cup fanfare Flags from every World Cup nation were on display at this polling station in Cirebon City, West Java. A potential 152 million Indonesian voters elected 171 mayors, provincial governors and other regional politicians. The election was also considered as a measuring stick for the popularity of Indonesian President Jokowi, who is up for reelection in 2019.

In Indonesia, voting doesn't have to be boring Folklore at the polling station Election officers count ballots at a polling station in Bandung City. Hopefully they can count higher than 1001.

In Indonesia, voting doesn't have to be boring On a serious note... This election officer explains the rules and shows a ballot for a regional governor to officials at a polling station in West Java. Author: Ayu Purwaningsih



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