296 election staff died during Indonesia polls

296 voting officials in Indonesia were killed due to illness related to fatigue from working long hours and counting millions of paper ballots manually, General Election Commission said. More than 7 million people were involved in the counting and monitoring of the April 17 election.

Jakarta: Indonesia's General Election Commission on Monday said that 296 election workers have died mostly due to illness related to fatigue from working long hours and counting millions of paper ballots manually.

Arief Budiman, chairman of the electoral commission, said that reports from the field regarding officers who are sick or have died are still coming in.

More than 7 million people were involved in the counting and monitoring of the April 17 election.

Dr. Ari Fahrial Syam, head of the medical faculty at the University of Indonesia, said the manual counting system required officials to work all night in bad conditions, including wind, rain and heat.

The Indonesian Election Commission said in a press release that it plans to provide 36 million rupiah (2,500 US dollars) in compensation for each worker who died.

The general election commission is scheduled to finish the vote count and announce the winners of the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 22.