Nikolas Kemoli as attorney for the Petitioners, Candidate Pair Number 2 Obed Naitboho-Alexander Kase, at the preliminary hearing of the Election Results Dispute Settlement (PHP) of South Central Timor District, Friday (27/7) in the Panel Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

South Central Timor Regent and Vice Regent Candidate Pair Number 2 Obed Naitboho-Alexander Kase filed a petition on the Election Results Dispute Settlement (PHP) of South Central Timor District to the Constitutional Court (MK). The preliminary hearing of Case No. 61/PHP.BUP-XVI/2018 was held on Friday (27/7). The Petitioners questioned the inflated vote that had caused his defeat to Candidate Pair Number 3 Egushem Piether Tahun-Johny Army Konay.

Nikolas Kemoli as the Petitioners\' attorney stated that 19 voters came from outside TPS (polling station) 7 in Taubneno Village in Kota Soe Sub-district to vote. A similar thing also happened in TPS 3 in Nonohonis Village, Soe Sub-district. "The ballot stuffing occured in several areas such as Sono Village, Nusa Village, Kelle Village, Mnelaanen Village, Fatuoni Village, Hoineno Village, Lobus Village, Mili Village, and Hoibeti Village," he explained in the session led by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat.

In addition, Nikolas mentioned re-vote (PSU) in several regions that had caused a reduction in the votes of the Petitioners. The re-vote, he added, took place at TPS 02 in Cendana Village and TPS 02 in Mauleun Village.

In this dispute, the vote margin between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party is 0.35% where the Petitioners received 67,751 votes while the Relevant Party obtained 68,488 votes. "Our petition has fulfilled the requirement for vote margin referring to Article 158 paragraph (1) letter a of Law Number 10 of 2016," he said.

In the same session, two Petitioners filed an election dispute in North Tapanuli District. The first is Chrismanto Lumbantobing-Hotman Hutasoit (Candidate Pair Number 3) and Jonius Taripar Hutabarat-Frengky P. Simanjuntak (Candidate Pair Number 2).

Candidate Pair Jonius Taripar Hutabarat-Frengky P. Simanjuntak questioned multiple Final Voters List (DPT), invalid certificates, installation of props that were not according to the regulation, as well as structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) money politics. Meanwhile, Candidate Pair Chrismanto Lumbantobing-Hotman Hutasoit questioned similar issues, including the partiality of ASN (state civil apparatus), multiple certificates, and multiple IDs.

The session not only heard South Central Timor and North Tapanuli district election disputes, but also the election dispute in Pamekasan District. The petition was filed by Candidate Number 2 Khollilurahman and Fathorrahman, questioning the non-neutrality of the Pamekasan District KPU and DPT issue. (ARS/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)