Applicant’s Attorney attended verdict announcement session of Meranti Islands election dispute, on Tuesday (26/1) in Plenary Room, the Constitutional Court Building.

The Constitutional Court declared Meranti Islands (Kepulauan Meranti) dispute lawsuit (Case No. 144/PHP.BUP-XIV/2016) inadmissible due to object error. As known, regent-deputy regent candidate pair Tengku Mustafa-Amyurlis filed the lawsuit. “Judicial verdict declares Applicant’s lawsuit inadmissible,” said Chief Justice Arief Hidayat accompanied with other Constitutional Justices in verdict announcement session, on Tuesday (26/1) evening.

The Court argued lawsuit object in election dispute settlement was Respondent’s (election commission) Decree regarding vote recapitulation result, as stipulated in Article 157 (3) and (4) Act No. 8/2015 and Article 4 Constitutional Court Regulation 1-5/2015. “Whereas the Applicant concerns on vote recapitulation minutes in regency/city level dated December 16, 2015. Based on considerations aforementioned, Applicant’s lawsuit object is incorrect according to the Court,” said Constitutional Justice Maria Farida Indrati reading Court’s Opinion. Thus, the Court considered the lawsuit was not covered in Court’s jurisdiction.

Regarding Indragiri Hulu candidate pair Mukhtaruddin-Aminah’s lawsuit (No. 45/PHP.BUP-XIV/2016), the Court assessed the lawsuit was filed within the time limit determined by laws. However according to the Court, the Applicant didn’t have legal standing because they didn’t comply with Article 158 Act 8/2015 and Article 6 Constitutional Court Regulation 1-5/2015 regarding vote margin. The Court determined vote margin for Indragiri Hulu election whose population number estimated at 416,582 was 1.5% margin maximum. Whereas, the most vote candidate pair Arianto-Khairizal (Related Party) gained 99,191, while the Applicant only gained 71,225 votes; the margin was 27,966 votes (28.19%) Therefore, the margin exceeded maximum vote margin.

In the same session, the Court also declared six other lawsuits inadmissible. The lawsuits were as followed; Gorontalo (No. 99 and 118/PHP.BUP-XIV/2016), Bengkalis (No. 103/PHP.BUP-XIV/2016), Rokan Hulu (No. 106/PHP.BUP-XIV/2016), Pelalawan (No. 9/PHP.BUP-XIV/2016), and Rokan Hilir (No. 92/PHP.BUP-XIV/2016) lawsuits.  

Similar with Indragiri Hulu lawsuit, the Court declared Applicants of six lawsuits aforementioned were had no legal standing respectively due to unfulfilled maximum vote margin. (Nano Tresna Arfana/Ilham Wiryadi/lul/Prasetyo Adi N)