Almost 300 election workers in Indonesia have died from fatigue-related illnesses after spending hours counting millions of ballot papers by hand, an official revealed.

The deaths of 272 staff come just 10 days after the presidential polls in Indonesia closed on April 17 in what was the world’s biggest single-day elections.

Of the 7 million people who were voluntarily helping the Elections Commission process ballots, 1,878 other staff had fallen ill, spokesman Arief Priyo Susanto said.

More than 800,000 polling booths had been set up across the Indonesian archipelago of 17,000 islands, with 80 per cent of the 193 million eligible voters turning out to vote in presidential, parliamentary, and local elections.

Unlike civil servants, election staff in Indonesia are not required to undergo a medical examination to determine whether they’re medically fit to perform their duties.

The Elections Commission says it plans to compensate the families of those deceased with roughly one year’s pay at minimum wage.

The April 17 elections were the first time the country of 260 million people combined the presidential vote with national and regional parliamentary ones, with an aim to cut costs.

But conducting the eight-hour vote in a country that stretches more than 5000km from its western to eastern tips proven to be both a Herculean logistical feat and deadly for officials, who had to count ballot papers by hand.

The Health Ministry issued a circular letter on April 23 urging health facilities to give utmost care for sick election staff, while the Finance Ministry is working on compensation for families of the deceased, Susanto added.

The KPU has come under fire due to the rising death toll.

“The KPU is not prudent in managing the workload of staff,” said Ahmad Muzani, deputy chairman of the campaign of opposition presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, reported by news website Kumparan.com.

Prabowo, who independent pollsters said was the loser of the 2019 polls based on quick counts, had alleged widespread cheating and his campaign claimed some officials punched ballots in favour of incumbent President Joko Widodo.

Widodo’s security minister said the allegations were baseless.

Both candidates have declared victory, though quick counts suggested Widodo won the election by around 9-10 percentage points.

The KPU will conclude vote counting and announce winners of the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 22.

-with AAP