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Andre Kristian and Bambang Sunaryo, legal counsels of Candidate Pair (Paslon) Number 2 Nur Supriyanto and Adhy Firdaus, presenting the main points of petition of the 2018 Bekasi Mayoral Election Results Dispute (PHP), Friday (27/7) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

The Constitutional Court (MK) held a hearing on the Bekasi Mayoral Election Results Dispute on Friday morning (27/7). Candidate Pair (Paslon) Number 2 Nur Supriyanto and Adhy Firdaus as Petitioners of Case No. 27/PHP.KOT-XVI/2018 claimed a number of violations had occurred during the Bekasi Mayoral Election. 

Bambang Sunaryo and Andre Kristian as legal counsels of Candidate Pair Number 2 explained that the violations committed by the Relevant Party, Candidate Pair Number 1 and incumbents Rahmat Effendi and Tri Adhiyanto Tjahjono, were not just a matter of vote margin but also a structured, systematic, and massive movement because of fraudulent deployment of state civil apparatus, which was clearly carried out by the Secretary of the Bekasi Municipality Rayendra Sukarmadji. The Petitioners also questioned the number of voters in Bekasi City, which was 1.8 million people, while only 1.4 million people were listed in the Final Voters List (DPT) .

Regarding the vote margin between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party, Bambang Sunaryo said, it reached high percentage of 34%, which could not be the basis for election dispute. The Petitioners received 335,900 votes, while the Relevant Party received 697,634 votes.

Bambang reasoned that the Petitioners would focus on and submit the evidence of violation. "We only hope that the Constitutional Court [honors] justice and honesty. If violation of the requirements were justified legally, there would be no need for an election," he said after the hearing.

Vote Increase in Tegal

At the same hearing, the Constitutional Court also adjudicate the petition by Candidate Pair Number 4 Habib Ali Zainal Abidin and Tanty Prasetyoningrum on the 2018 Tegal Mayor and Deputy Mayor Election. Represented by attorney Petrus Bala Pattyona, the Petitioners revealed a number of allegations of additional votes at TPS (polling station) 4 Muarareja. The votes increased 2.5% from the final voters list (DPT), as many as 365 votes. However, in C1 it was listed as 366 votes and in the sub-district recapitulation it was 368 votes. According to the Petitioners, it showed active and deliberate actions to influence or benefit certain parties to increase the number of votes.

In addition, the Petitioners of Case No. 1/PHP.KOT-XVI/2018 suspected that in TPS 3 of Muarereja 35 people used A5 letters unknown by the community. There was also an empty ballot box at the sub-district recapitulation in East Tegal Sub-district Office on Saturday, June 29, 2018. The ballot box was supposed to contain a hologrammed C-KWK model form, a hologrammed C1 KWK model form, and a C2 KWK model form. 

The Petitioners also witnessed several frauds in the field during the election. The Petitioners should have received 2 percent more votes over the other candidates based on data from C1. In addition, fraud was found in that the C1 form that had been put into the box but the KPU opened it without any witnesses from the candidate pair. 

The result of the 2018 Tegal Mayoral Election shows slight margin of 0.23% between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party Candidate Pair Number 3 Dedy Supriyono and Muhamad Jumadi. The Petitioners won 37,775 votes and the Relevant Party won 38,091 votes. 

Cirebon Local Election Results Dispute 

Meanwhile Candidate Pair Number 1 Bamunas Setiawan Boediman and Effendi Edo sued the results of the 2018 Cirebon Mayor and Deputy Mayor Election. The results of the election showed that Candidate Pair Number 1 received 78,511 votes while the Relevant Party, Candidate Pair Number 2 Nashrudin Azis and Eti Herawati, received 80,496 votes. Thus, the vote margin between the two candidate pairs is 1,985 votes or 1.5% so the Petitioners had legal standing. 

The Petitioners of case No. 8/PHP.KOT-XVI/2018 demanded a re-voting (PSU) at 24 polling stations in Cirebon Municipality. The Petitioner had previously complained about the election organizers, the Cirebon Municipality Election Commission (KPU) and the Cirebon Municipality Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) to the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP). 

"Many violations were found but the KPU and Panwaslu did not follow it up. We raised objections to the results of the vote recapitulation at the KPU. The pilkada process is not in accordance with the rules, giving the number of open ballot boxes. Hopefully all can work according to the rules and produce a fair decision," said the Petitioner\'s attorney, Sururudin of Ihza & Ihza Lawfirm. 

The violations included a massive reduction in the votes received by the Petitioners in several polling stations, an increase in votes for other candidate pairs that occurred in several polling stations, as well as discrepancy in the data on the use of ballots in the C-KWK model resulting in a reduction in the votes of the Petitioners and/or additional votes for other candidate pairs. (Nano Tresna Arfana/Yuniar Widiastuti)

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