The Petitioners held each other after their petition was granted partly by the Panel of Justices of the Constitutional Court in the Dispute over the Results of General Elections (PHPU) of Regional Head of Binjai City year 2010.
Jakarta, MKOnline – An Interlocutory Injunction was finally passed by the Court in the case of Dispute over the Results of General Elections (PHPU) of Regional Head of Binjai City year 2010 – Case No. 166/PHPU. D-VIII/2010 – on Tuesday (28/9) afternoon in the Constitutional Court's Plenary Session Room. This means that another Regional Election (Pemilukada) was to be held for a number of areas in Tanjung Balai City.
“The Court concludes that part of the Substance of the Petitioners’ petition has legal grounds. The Rulings of the Decision order KPU of Tanjungbalai City to hold revoting in the General Election of Regional Head and Vice Regional Head of Tanjungbalai City Year 2010,” thus the decision was read aloud by Mahfud MD as the Chairperson of the Panel of Justices accompanied by other constitutional court justices.
With respect to the arguments of the Petitioners regarding money politics in the 2010 Pemilukada of Tanjungbalai City, although the Petitioners could not provide exact evidence for the 2,509 persons involved in the Arteri Center Team, the Court considered that there was mature, systematic and well-structured planning by those associated in the Arteri Center under the direct coordination of Mayor Candidate Number 6.
The Respondent’s denial regarding the unawareness of the Arteri Center Team as they were not officially registered with KPU of Tanjungbalai city became irrelevant. Based on the confessions of the Arteri Center Team coordinators from the City level up to 100 voting stations (TPS), the Arteri Center Team was indeed not formed using a Letter of Decision and was not officially registered with KPU and was under the direct coordination of the Mayor Candidate of the Candidate Pair Number 6. Therefore, the aforementioned team was often seen as a “Shadow Team”.
Based on the comparison of written evidence of the Petitioners and the Respondent and the Related Party, as well as cross substantiation of the statements of witnesses in the hearing, the Court considered the Petitioners’ argument that practices of money politics had been committed in a well structured, systematic and massive manner by the Candidate Pair Number 6 in the Pemilukada of Tanjungbalai City through the Arteri Center Team was legally evidenced.
In addition, the statement of Witness Bagus Joko Triono as the Consultant for the Victory of Candidate Number 6 in casu the Related Party who knew the details of the structure, strategy and steps for making the Related Party the winner transparently, had in fact described the practices of money politics committed by the Related Party by distributing money to more than 7,000 voters for Candidate Pair Number 6 from 17 sub-districts.
The Court considered that the practices of money politics occurring during the Pemilukada of Tanjungbalai had harmed the pillars of democracy and the implementation of direct, public, confidential, honest and fair pemilukada. Although more than 7,000 voters had received money from the Related Party a quo, they could not be necessarily considered to have voted for Candidate Pair Number 6.
The court was of the opinion that there was still a potential for Candidate Pair Number 6 to acquire votes. The legal facts in the hearing indicated that that according to the Respondent the Related Party acquired 13,047 votes or 21.52% of the total number of 60,615 valid votes. Therefore, the Court could not simply transfer such 7,000 votes of the voters to other candidate pairs. The Court could not disqualify the Related Party, either, so that the reasons were sufficient for the Court to order for re-voting to be held.
Therefore, the Court ordered Tanjungbalai City KPU to held re-voting in 17 sub-districts namely Perwira Sub-District, Selat Lancang Sub-District, Pahang Sub-District, Keramat Kubah Sub-District, Sungai Merbau Sub-District, Beting Kuala Kapias Sub-District, Kapias Pulau Buaya Sub-District, Pulau Simardan Sub-District, Pematang Pasir Sub-District, Tanjung Balai 3 Sub-District, Sirantau Sub-District, Pantai Burung Sub-District, Sijambi Sub-District, Sumber Sari Sub-District, Pasar Baru Sub-District, Sei Raja Sub-District, and Muara Santosa Sub-District.(Nano Tresna A./mh)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 | 11:43 WIB 239