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Plenary hearing to listen to experts and witnesses for the Petitioners, Respondent, and Relevant Party in the 2018 Tegal City election results dispute (PHP) hearing, Tuesday (28/8) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

The Constitutional Court (MK) held a follow-up hearing of the 2018 Tegal City election results dispute (PHP) for case No. 1/PHP.KOT-XVI/2018 on Tuesday afternoon (28/8/2018). The third session was to listen to experts and witnesses for the Petitioners, Respondent, and Relevant Party.

Nur Hidayat Sardini for Petitioners Habib Ali-Tanty Prasetyoningrum (Candidate Pair 4) explained his view of the ideal election, which is free and fair. In general, an ideal election is one where the voters’ aspirations are in line with the desired results when translated into parliamentary seats. "The election really provides an opportunity to election participants, voters, and those elected and open opportunities for adequate political participation during the voting and vote counting process," Nur Hidayat Sardini explained to the justices led by Chief Justice Anwar Usman.

Unfortunately, Sardini said, election often ends up in failure due to electoral fraud, which violates legal procedure and distorts election results, political instability due to voters’ unpreparedness, the election organizers’  incompetence, and intervention by those in power.

“The election is a big concept with a heavy load as technical problems [might happen]. There are also disputes, intimidation, and malpractice, so election administration has its own issues,” said the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) lecturer of Diponegoro University.

Sardine added that the election will be hindered by technical incompetence of election organizers, which directly affects the quality of the election, especially in voting, whose results are often rejected by candidates.

Election Process 

The Petitioners’ expert Bambang Cahya Eka Widodo explained that the election is a complex political process. “It involves [complex] documentation. Every election requires accuracy, administrative accuracy, and processing of documents needed to ensure the election is transparent, accountable, effective and efficient,” Bambang said.

The former chairman of Bawaslu said that the election involves complex logistics and a high number of personnel. Therefore, training and education of election staff is important as they are responsible for documenting the election process in order to achieve transparency and accountability and to keep the election fair and honest.

Regional Election Went Well

Expert for Candidate Pair Number 3 Dedy Yon-Muhammad Jumadi (Relevant Party) Maruarar Siahaan said that the regional election went well. “Especially […] in Java Island, although not perfect,” he said.

Siahaan also talked about changes in the regulation after the Constitutional Court’s decision, which is reinforced by Law No. 10 of 2016. “There is a paradox. Will the Constitutional Court in examining, trying, deciding on regional election disputes observe the indicator?” he asked. The indicator is that the lower the vote margin between the Petitioners and Relevant Party is, the more fair and honest the election, and vice versa.

Siahaan also stressed that the Petitioner’s posita in the petition has to support its petitum. And this must be reflected in all judicial review in the Constitutional Court.

Witnesses’ Statements 

The 2018 Tegal City election results dispute (PHP) hearing also presented the Petitioners’, the Respondent’s, and the Relevant Party’s witnesses. Riswantoro explained, “At TPS 4 of Muara Reja, based on the C-KWK form obtained by the candidate pairs’ witnesses, the total voters were 568 people but 17 votes were missing.”

Sulaiman revealed that at TPS 3 of Muara Reja there were 35 votes by e-ID users who were not recorded in the voters list. Ade Surakhman revealed that at TPS 1 of Kejambon the total valid votes were 433, the invalid ones were 25. Hery Budiman revealed that during the recapitulation in East Tegal Sub-district on June 29, there was a sealed empty ballot box at TPS 1 of Panggung. The Petitioners’ witness Asmadi revealed that there was a video showing Tegal City KPU chairman revealing a real count results, which violated procedure.

West Tegal Sub-district PPK member Imam denied the Petitioners’ statement on the 35 unlisted voters with e-ID at TPS 3 of Muara Reja because they had shown e-ID. “In addition, the 35 people in question were local residents as evidenced by ID photocopy and family card,” he said.

The Respondent’s witness and East Tegal Sub-district PPK member Muhamad Subehi denied there was an empty ballot box in the recapitulation in East Tegal Sub-district at TPS 1 of Panggung.

The Relevant Party’s witness Zaenal Nurohman denied there had been excess ballots at several TPS in Margadana Sub-district. As a witness for Candidate Pair Number 3, Zaenal also explained the recapitulation process in Margadana Sub-district. Another witness Abdul Jalal confirmed that the 35 unlisted voters with e-ID at TPS 3 of Muara Reja were local residents. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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