In Indonesia, more than 270 election employees have died of exhaustion in the last ten days. They have been put to work for too long to count the votes of the April 17 elections. That says the Electoral Commission of the 260 million inhabitants country.
All votes from the Asian country elections must be counted by hand. A large and time-consuming job, not only to collect votes from the gigantic country but also because the Indonesians combined three elections for the first time: the presidential, parliamentary and regional elections.
There were 800,000 polling stations for 193 million voters throughout the country.
In the days following the vote, the employees had to work through the night without a break to count the votes. More than 2,000 employees became ill due to the long work, often in hot rooms.
According to the spokesperson for the Electoral Commission, 270 people eventually died from exhaustion. Their family members would receive approximately 2,500 dollars in proper compensation, roughly equivalent to a minimum annual wage in the country, writes the BBC.
Many of the deceased and the sick are temporary employees who have been designated as an additional person or counter. They were not medically tested for their work, unlike ordinary officials.
Hospitals and medical posts throughout the country have now been called upon to pay extra attention to local election staff.
In the elections, both President Joko Widodo and opposition candidate Prabowo Subianto claimed the victory. The first results, however, give Widodo a head start. The final winner will only be announced on May 22.
