JAKARTA • An evaluation would be conducted on Indonesia's election process following the deaths of dozens of poll workers and police officers who served during last week's general elections, head of the Elections Commission (KPU) Arief Budiman said.

The victims were said to have died due to extreme exhaustion after the vote-counting process.

KPU commissioner Viryan Aziz said 54 members of polling station working committees died during and after the polls on April 17.

"Fifty-four people passed away and another 32 have fallen ill," he was reported as saying by Tempo online yesterday.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said last Friday that 10 police officers died from sickness, exhaustion and mishaps related to their task of guarding the polling booths or delivering election paraphernalia to remote areas.

Said Mr Arief last Saturday: "Yes, we will evaluate it. Their jobs were really hard, they have many responsibilities in their tasks. Exhaustion most likely happened to them while they carried out their duties."

Polling booth attendants had to finish the vote-counting on both the presidential and legislative elections on the same night after polling closed last Wednesday.

"Based on our monitoring, all of those duties were settled at 5am the next day on average. In some cases, it was even finished at noon the next day.

"There were no pauses in all of those jobs. Exhaustion was inevitable," West Java Provincial KPU chairman Rifqi Almubarok said on Saturday.

XINHUA