The Constitutional Court stated that despite the existence of illegal votes in the vote recapitulation for candidate No. 1 (Rusli Habibie and Indra Yasin) which had to be reduced by the North Gorontalo Election Commission, it did not significantly affect the result to set the Candidate No. 1 as the elected winner. Therefore, the Constitutional Court decided to refuse the Petitioners claims. That was announced in the trial for Verdict readout for case 31/PHPU.D-VI/2008 chaired by the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Moh. Mahfud MD, Tuesday (25/11), in the Court’s Main Room.

The Petitioner mentioned was Candidate No.5 of North Gorontalo Regent and Vice Regent Election 2008, Thariq Modanggu and Djafar Ismail. They got 23,047 votes and sat on the second rank on the list, meanwhile Rusli Habibie and Indra Yasin got 23,108 votes and announced as the winner by the Election Commission.

Thariq Modanggu and Djafar Ismail considered that 63 votes illegal because those voters were not on the Fixed Voter List, but they still cast their ballots, there were voters who voted by using other people’s identity card. To support the argument, 11 witnesses were presented.

The Court have questioned the witnesses in the previous trials. The result is, according to the Constitutional Court, Amir Haduli, H. Pion Taliki, Hitler Datau, Djuni Safii, Soni H. Patamani, Hardi Rohmala, and Nune Djakaria whose information was about the choice of voters was only based on the information from other party and the information from among witnesses was inconsistent, therefore such testimonials had to be put aside. Meanwhile, Rian S. Pakaya, Hendrik Gilinggo, Anton Tuna, and Arsif Latif were witnesses who used their rights to vote illegally.

The Court also stated that, based on the information from witnesses, the total votes for candidate No. 1 had to be reduced by one vote on the basis of Rian S. Pakaya testimonial; one vote on the basis of Hendrik Gilingo testimonial; one vote on the basis of Anton Tuna testimonial; one vote on the basis of Arsit Latif information. “Consequently, the recapitulation result for candidate No. 1 becomes 23,108 votes - 4 votes = 23,104 votes,” declared Constitutional Justice Achmad Sodiki.

Oleh karena itu, menurut MK, Keputusan Termohon Nomor 37 Tahun 2008 tentang Rekapitulasi Hasil Penghitungan Suara Pemilihan Umum Kepala Daerah dan Wakil Kepala Daerah Kabupaten Gorontalo Utara Tahun 2008 bertanggal 2 November 2008 harus diperbaiki sepanjang mengenai angka perolehan suara Pasangan Calon nomor urut 1 yang semula 23.108 suara menjadi 23.104 suara.

“The total ammount of votes for candidate 1, with 23,104 votes, is still more than the total votes for candidate No. 5 (Petitioner) who gets the most votes with 23,047 does not significantly affect the Petitionee s Decree No. 38/2008 about the Decision and Announcement of Elected Candidate in Regent and Vice Regent of North Gorontalo Election 2008, dated November 2, 2008. Therefore, the Petitioner s claim have to be rejected,” said Achmad Sodiki. (Luthfi Widagdo Eddyono)
 
Photo: Doc. MK PR/Denny Feishal

Translated by Yogi Djatnika / MK