Jakarta. The General Election Commission is collaborating with the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to facilitate mail-in voting for the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for February 14.

There are nearly 560,000 Indonesian registered voters living in Malaysia, accounting for the largest portion of the 2.06 million overseas voters.

In an interview with BTV news broadcaster on Wednesday, Ambassador Hermono said the embassy has distributed 156,000 absentee ballots to Indonesian citizens in Malaysia, enabling them to cast their votes before the official election date.

Out of the distributed ballots, approximately 80,000 have been marked as "return to sender," and thousands of other ballots were successfully delivered and returned to local post offices by the recipients.

However, the embassy faces a challenge as around 68,000 absentee ballots are currently unaccounted for.

"We are actively tracking the whereabouts of approximately 68,000 absentee ballots sent by post offices but have not been returned," Hermono said.

To locate the missing ballots, the embassy has sought assistance from local law enforcement. The ballots were dispatched last month, and despite being sent since January 11, they have not been returned.

"The postal services promised to provide us with data regarding the deliveries and recipients. It's unusual that these ballots haven’t come back after weeks," added Hermono.

For security purposes, the ballot papers are stored in high-security facilities at the embassy. These storage spaces are equipped with multiple locks, and access requires three different keys, each entrusted to an election official, an observer, and an embassy official.

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