Photos Show Indonesian Election Staff Riding Elephants & Crossing Rivers to Deliver Ballot Boxes

The world’s biggest one-day election just happened on Wednesday (17th April) after more than 190 million Indonesians from all over the country cast their votes.

This year’s election sees current Indonesian president Joko Widodo running against ex-military general Prabowo Subianto. According to Time Magazine, prior to the polls opening nationwide at 7am yesterday morning, roughly 17 million election workers were tasked with transporting ballot boxes to over 800,000 polling stations across the country.

Source: foreign policy

It was perhaps one of the most important and difficult tasks, as the workers had to ensure every registered voter had the chance to cast their ballot, even those in the most remote areas.

Photos of these workers transporting the ballot boxes to some of Indonesia’s rural areas soon began to surface, showing the different methods of transport they had to take in order to safely get the ballots to their respective stations.

While some were pictured crossing rivers on foot and via canoe, others had to ride elephants and horses to transport their ballot boxes across treacherous terrain. Check out the photos below; 

Antara foto/reuters | source: the guardian

Source: daeng mansur/epa | source: the guardian

Source: msn

Chaideer mahyuddin/afp | source: the guardian

Chaideer mahyuddin/afp | source: the guardian

Meanwhile, early election results indicate that Joko Widodo could be getting a second presidential term after initial counts from Thursday morning (18th April) reveal that he is currently in the lead, according to Channel NewsAsia. However, the official results will be announced sometime in May.

Well, we’re glad that Indonesians across the country managed to cast their ballots thanks to the dedicated election workers! Let’s hope the counting is carried out in a fair and transparent manner, too!

Also read: Over 20,000 Marked Ballot Papers Found in Bangi & Kajang Just Days Before Indonesia’s General Election