Constitutional Court, Monday (10/11), held a trial for dispute over regional head general election (pilkada) of North Gorontalo Regency, Gorontalo. This case was filed by one of the losing candidate pair Thariq Modanggu-Djafar Ismail (Tafakur) through their Legal Counsel Suhardi La Maira, S.H., etc. as the Petitionee was the North Gorontalo Regional General Election Commission (RGEC).
On the result counting recapitulation conducted on last November 3, Tafakur pair attained 47 percent of voters, losing by a narrow margin of 0.38 percent from the winning couple, Rusli Habibie-Indra Yasin (Ruâââ¬ÃÂya). Based on the recapitulation result, Ruâââ¬ÃÂya attained 47.38 percent of voters.
The case No. 31/PHPU-D-VI/2008 was filed because Tafakur pair considered North Gorontalo RGEC broke the procedure for vote counting recapitulation. According to the Petitioners, Election Watchers Committee had demanded RGEC to postpone the counting due to suspicion of vote counting violations in several ballot centers.
Due to that fact, the Petitioners requested Constitutional Court Justices to annul the voting result and ordered RGEC for recounting.
Responding to the Petition, Head of Justice Panel Board Akil Mochtar explained that the Courtâââ‰â¢s authority in such cases was to settle the vote counting result. Hence, explained Akil, the Petitioners should have come up with valid and accurate evidences to support their arguments.
Related to the request for recounting, Akil explained that according to the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 15/2008 about Procedural Rule for Dispute over Result of Regional General Election (PHPU.D) Article 3, 4, 5, and 6, such request was not arranged. ââ∠âSo, ordering RGEC to do a recounting is not one of the Courtâââ‰â¢s authorities,âââ¬Ã explained Akil.
Because of that, the Constitutional Court Justices demanded the Petitioners to improve their Petition. Considering that this case is a speedy trial, the petitioners was given a single day to improve their petition.
Donggala Regional Election
At the same day, the
Case No. 28/PHPU-D-VI/2008 about dispute over regional election result in Donggala was filed by Kasman Lassa-Ahmad Ariefianto candidate pair. The election itself resulted in Habir Ponulele-Aly Lasamaulu (Halal) pair coming out as the winner with 35.5 percent of voters. Meanwhile Kasman Lassa-Ahmad Ariefianto pair at the second place got 15.8 percent of voters. (Andhini Sayu Fauzia)
Foto: Dok. Humas MK/Andhini SF Translated by YOGI DJATNIKA / MKRI