“I know that I am not old enough and can not vote. But I voted because I had been given some money,” revealed Adrinus, an underage voter, in the trial for Election Dispute in Belu Regency conducted at the Constitutional Court (the Court) Building on Wednesday (7/1).

Adrinus was just one of the 250 underage children voted to support Candidate Pair Joachim Lopez and Taolin Ludovikus (Jalin package) in the second round election in Belu, on the last December 12.

Adrinus reckoned that before the election there was somebody meeting his fater and handed out 100 thousand rupiah. Then, Adrinus was given 5 thousand rupiah and asked by his father to join the Belu election. “My father told me to vote for number 4 (Jalin Package),” explained Adrinus.

Fulfilling his father s order, by using a voter card and C6 Form under his own name, at 11.00 WIT (GMT+08.00) Adrinus then went to Vote Center II in Tuna Melai to vote for Jalin. It turned out that this seven grader was not the only one. “Together with my nine other friends, I voted in the Vote Center. Nobody protested because there were not many people in the Vote Center,” he recalled.

Similar to Adrinus, Yanti, Head of Petitioner s (Drg. Gregorius Mau Bili F., DDPH & Drs. Berchamans Mau Bria, M.Sc – Gemar, for short) Team in Kobesi District, confessed that she found 18 underage children admitting to have casted votes in Vote Center 1 of Oweka Village. “I found 18 children in their school uniform coming out of the Vote Center. They said they had been given the C6 Form by the Head of the Election Committee to vote. When I asked whether or not they had reached the age limit, they told me that they did not know. They were told to vote, and so they voted,” said Yanti.

After the conversation ended, Yanti went to the Head of the Election Committee to file her objection. The Head of the Election Committee admitted the children voted in the location, but refused to deal with her objection. “He told me, if you want to make a protest, it should have been before the kids voted. Not after,” reckoned Yanti.

Yanti also told that herself and all Gemar witnesses in the area intended to make a statement on the underage voters incident. However, the Head of the Election Committee did not allow it. “So, Gemar witnesses refused to sign the transcript of proceeding,” she explained. (Kencana Suluh Hikmah)

Photo: Doc. of CCRI  PR /Wiwik BW

Translated by Yogi Djatnika / CCRI