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The Petitioners’ witness Andi Baso Ryadi M. giving a statement in a follow-up hearing of North Bolaang Mongondow Regency election results dispute, Monday (27/8) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

Electoral justice system is the key to running the democratic system amidst election irregularities. The aim of the electoral justice system is for each procedure to run according to the legal framework and to protect the rights of citizens. This was conveyed by Nur Hidayat Sardini, who was presented by the North Bolaang Mongondow Regency Elections Commission (KPU) (Respondent) as an expert in a follow-up hearing of North Bolaang Mongondow Regency election results dispute (PHP) on Monday (27/8/2018) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court.

In the hearing presided over by Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of Diponegoro University said that violations occur at every election. The issue is whether those can be tolerated. Therefore, there are clear rules to settle those violations.

In case No. 6/PHP.BUP-XVI/2018 where the Petitioners Hamdan Datusolang and Murianto Babay (Candidate Pair Number 3) had alleged structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations, Sardini said that the election would fail if the violations impacted the election results. "So, the electoral justice system essentially emphasizes two things: correcting violations and punishing violators," he stressed.

Authentic Documents

At the hearing, the Court heard a statement by Maruarar Siahaan, an expert for Candidate Pair Number 2 Depri Pontoh and Amin Lasena (Relevant Party). He explained the vote margin in relation to the shift in the Constitutional Court’s authority after Law No. 10 of 2016 (Pilkada Law). He believed vote margin is a quantitative issue, while TSM violations are under the purview of the Constitutional Court.

Siahaan added that in case of any miscalculation, witnesses and documents can be used as a reference. "If there are accusations of adding voters from the permanent voters list, with […] authentic documents, here is the role of the Constitutional Court to [observe] authentic documents. If there are no TSM violations, then the violations will easily be examined," he explained.

Irregularities Done by Election Organizers

One of the Petitioners’ witnesses, Andi Baso Ryadi M., revealed irregularities by the election organizers. He said that the Petitioners’ regency reporting team said that out of 22 polling stations (TPS) in North Bolaang Mongondow Regency, 11 had issues, including 4 with severe issues. He had witnessed unsealed ballot boxes.

Following Procedure 

Pinogaluman sub-district election committee (PPK) chairman Ramla Gumohon denied the Petitioners’ claim that several state civil apparatus (ASN) were recruited not following procedure. As the Petitioners’ witness, Gumohon said that the recruitment had followed procedure. He also had asked Panwas’ recommendation for repeat vote calculation, which didn’t show a difference.

No Violation

The Relevant Party’s witness Desmon Poa stressed there had not been any incident as alleged by the Petitioners at the polling stations. North Bolaang Mongondow Regency Panwas also stated that there had not been any report of underage voters as alleged.

In the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners argued that there was a difference in votes due to TSM violations by the Respondent, Relevant Party, and Panwas. They claimed there had been involvement of state civil apparatus (ASN) that had structural and emotional connections with the Relevant Party, who are incumbents. They alleged that this had benefitted the Relevant Party in the regency election on June 27, 2018.

The Petitioners also claimed there had been different vote results. The vote results according to them were 10,521 votes for Karel Bangko and Arman Lumoto (Candidate Pair 1), 15,586 votes for Depri Pintoh and Amin Lasena (Candidate Pair 2), and 19,202 votes for Hamdan Datunsolang and Murianto Babay (Candidate Pair 3). Therefore, they requested that the Court determined the vote count results of the 2018 North Bolaang Mongondow Regent-Vice Regent election. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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