According to an official of the Indonesian General Election Commission (KPU), about 272 election officers in the country have allegedly died from work-related stress on Saturday night, ten days after the country held its biggest single-day elections on April 17.

Speaking on behalf of the Commission, Arief Priyo Susanto, revealed that outside the casualties recorded, another 1,878 officials with the Commission have fallen ill after long hours of work which also involved counting millions of ballot papers by hand, during the country’s first general elections where people voted for president and members of the parliament at the same time.

Combining the elections was motivated by the need to cut costs that would have been accrued by organizing separate elections on different days. Over six million election workers participated in the election where 192.8 million of the country’s population cast their votes across 800,000 polling units.

According to a report from Channel News Asia, even though the KPU is currently under fire for the rising death toll and the working condition it had subjected its staff to, a circular was issued by the Health Ministry on April 23 calling on health facilities to prioritize election workers. Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry is allegedly working on compensating the families of those affected.

While the final official results are to be announced on May 22, early results obtained by independent polling agencies have placed incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the lead, on his way to securing a second term with 55 percent of the vote already. Longtime opponent Prabowo Subianto, comes in second according to the “quick counts,” with 44 percent of the votes.

Prabowo has, however, accused President Joko Widodo of election malpractice, claiming that several agents of the electoral commission punched ballots in his favour. He has stated his intention to seek redress in court if the results do not sway in his favour.