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Election Commission’s Attorney Trisno Kamba delivered answer on Applicant’s lawsuit in further session of Gorontalo election dispute, on Thursday (14/1) in Panel Session Room, the Constitutional Court Building. Photo PR/Ganie

 

 

 

Gorontalo election commission denies candidate pair Tony Junus-Sofyan Puhi’s claims saying double voting occurred, resulted in valid vote exceeded the number of voters. “The violations (as argued by the Applicant, ed.) are unclear. The Applicant should be able to explain on which polling stations the violations of double voting occurred,” said Gorontalo election commission’s Attorney Trisno Kamba on Thursday’s (14/1) session, in Panel Session Room.

Moreover, Gorontalo election commission also responded Applicant’s claim regarding vote recapitulation as determined by the commission. “Applicant’s argument regarding vote recapitulation is obscure; the Applicant didn’t mention on which polling stations the commission committed recapitulation error. The Applicant also didn’t mention on the vote margin which considered detrimental to them,” said Kamba in the session led by Anwar Usman.

The Respondent also denied Applicant’s argument saying the Respondent didn’t conducted voter list update. “Such argument is not true,” Kamba asserted. Therefore, the election commission considered Applicant’s demand which asking repeat voting was absurd. ”There is no reason to conduct repeat voting,” Kamba added.

Meanwhile, candidate pair Nelson Pomalingo and Fadli Hasan as Related Party assessed Applicant’s lawsuit had formal flaw. “Applicant’s lawsuit had formal flaw, because it focus on election process, rather than vote margin,” said Related Party’s Attorney Ismail Pelu.

Regarding Applicant’s argument saying the Related Party committed massive and systemic frauds, Ismail denied their argument. Ismail argued the Related Party wasn’t incumbent; therefore they impossibly mobilized civil servants and village officials. “Therefore, Applicant’s argument has no legal ground,” asserted Ismail.

No Intimidation

In the same session, Gorontalo election commission responded candidate pair Rustam Akili-Anas Jusuf’s lawsuit. Regarding Applicant’s argument saying candidate pair number 4 committed intimidation, the election commission as Respondent clarified that it wasn’t true.

The Respondent also argued Applicant’s claim saying the Applicant lost votes in several polling stations, was not true. The Respondent said they had recount back the ballots under election monitoring committee’s (panwas) recommendation.

Meanwhile, the Related Party clarified candidate pair Rustam-Anas’ allegation which alleged civil servants had been mobilized to support the Related Party. “The Related Party is not incumbent. Therefore, it is impossible to conduct civil servants mobilization. According to us, such allegation is unreasonable,” said Ismail.

In the end of the session, Panel head Anwar Usman verified Respondent’s evidences. “The Respondent and the Related Party are same for both cases, right? The Respondent has filed TA-01 evidence until TN-01 evidence. The evidences already verified,” said Usman. (Nano Tresna Arfana/Ilham Wiryadi/lul/Prasetyo Adi N)

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