Proving of witness’ evidence before constitutional justices in the 2018 Cirebon Municipality election results dispute (PHP) hearing, Wednesday (29/8) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photos by Humas MK/Ifa.
The ballot box has the most respectable place in the elections. For this reason, election organizers must safeguard the ballot box. This was conveyed by Nur Hidayat Sardini as expert presented by Candidate Pair Number 1 Bamunas Setiawan Boediman and Effendi Edo as Petitioners in the follow-up hearing of the 2018 Cirebon Municipality election results dispute hearing registered as case No. 8/PHP.KOT-XVI/2018 in the Constitutional Court (MK) on Wednesday (29/8). "A number of references on the history of the elections assert that the ballot box will be safeguarded until the [end] by the election organizers," said Sardini.
Sardini spoke of the ballot box during the Philippine Revolution. Then, four people were shot dead because they protected the ballot boxes.
"Such was the important of the ballot box, which is why it is the pride and crown of the elections. If the ballot box has been opened, it means that the election does not have any more dignity. "Whoever opens a ballot box outside of the norm, it equals crime in the elections," said Sardini, lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Diponegoro University.
Sardini said, the provisions of the Elections Law were clear and had a mechanism regarding the ballot box. For example, there are provisions stating that the duties of the polling committee (PPS) are to safeguard and secure the ballot box after a vote count and after it is sealed.
Law Professor at the Udayana University Yohanes Usfunan also discussed the ballot box. He explained that the direction and results of the study by the West Java Province Elections Supervisory Agency on June 30, 2018 decided that the opening of the ballot boxes to retrieve C1 form would not affect the results of the vote count recapitulation, there was no need for a re-vote.
"The provisions of the law state that the duty of the PPS is to forward the ballot boxes from each polling station to PPK on the same day after the ballot box has been collected and it does not have the authority to open a sealed ballot box," said Yohanes as expert for the Candidate Pair Number 2 Nashrudin Azis and Eti Herawati as the Relevant Party.
However, according to Yohanes, the provisions are too rigid. Therefore, a contrario interpretation is needed to add an exception. "The exception is understood as a discretionary authority to anticipate errors due to lack of understanding of the election committee officers. This is related to the possibility of an unexpected occurrence or a precarious situation as in the case of ballot box opening in the 2018 Cirebon Municipality Election," he explained to the panel of justices led by Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Anwar Usman.
The opening of the ballot box, Yohanes said, was a consequence of the ignorance of KPPS officers about the inputting of ballots and other important documents in the ballot box. "Such documents should have been separated outside the ballot box. Although in the end it was discovered that there was no cheating in the opening of the ballot box that the vote results of each candidate pair is fixed and did not change according to the information from the Panwaslu of Cirebon Municipality," he said.
Not a New Problem
Meanwhile, another expert for the Relevant Party Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo said that ballot box opening was actually not a new problem and was very common in elections in Indonesia. Therefore, Bambang reminded that this matter must receive serious attention from the election organizers and preventive measures against a repetition should be taken. "Simple repetitive errors like this should be prevented and do not become a burden that results in the integrity of the elections process and the election results being questioned," Bambang added.
Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo continued, voting could be repeated if from the results of the research and examination of the subdistrict supervisory committee there was a condition, including the opening of ballot boxes or files and the collection of vote counting not carried out according to the procedures set out in the legislation.
"So, if there is opening of the ballot box or the voting documents and the vote countis not carried out according to the procedures set out in the legislation, the subdistrict supervisory committee must first test, observe, and examine. In other words, the recommendation for re-vote must be accompanied by a review of the results of the research and examination that conclude that the action has resulted in the voting results being unable to be used or the vote count not being able to be carried out. The opening of the ballot boxes in the 2018 Cirebon Mayor Election occurred because of lack of accuracy of KPPS officers in understanding the regulations regarding recapitulation and the determination of the voting results," the former Bawaslu Chairman explained.
Witnesses
In the 2018 Cirebon Municipality PHP hearing witnesses were presented by the disputing parties. Olah Abdullah Balazam, witness for the Petitioners who was a sympathizer of Candidate Pair Number 1 Bamunas Setiawan Boediman and Effendi Edo, revealed that on the night of June 27, 2018 he heard about ballot boxes opening in Kesenden Village. "After receiving the news, I went straight to the Kesenden Village office. I saw ballot boxes whose seals were broken. There were 19 ballot boxes," Olah said.
Another witness for the Petitioners, Karsudin, said that on June 27, 2018, he had received a phone call from the volunteer team of candidate number 1 on ballot boxes opening in Panjunan Village. Karsudin explained, no one claimed to have opened them but in the end it was discovered to be a Panjunan PPS member named Yayan.
Meanwhile the Respondent (Cirebon Municipality KPU) presented a witness named Iman Taufik who confirmed that in TPS 15 of Kesambi Village ballot boxes were opened to take three folders containing C1-KWK model form, which should not have been included in the ballot boxes. The ballot box opening was witnessed by chairman and members of the Kesambi PPS and the witnesses of the candidate pairs.
"After that, I asked the PPK head who had opened the ballot boxes. He didn’t know who had initiated the ballot box opening. Then Jamal of the Campaign Team for Candidate Number 1 came. He asked for clarification and the person who had opened the ballot boxes,” said Faith.
Another witness for the Respondent, Nur Zamal, spoke about ballot box opening in TPS 15 of Drajat Village to take the folder and copy of the C-KWK form and C1-KWK form. The ballot boxes were then locked and re-sealed. The incident was witnessed by TPS and PPL supervisors of Drajat Village.
A different testimony came from a witness for the Relevant Party, Andi Riantori, Chairperson of the Nasdem Party Witness Commission and the Campaign Team for Candidate Pair Number 2. He explained the chronology of the ballot box opening and the matching of the C1-KWK form in Kesenden Village. After hearing about the ballot box opening, Andi came to the village office, where officials, supervisory officers, and others had gathered. The ballot boxes had indeed been opened to take documents that should have been outside but mistakenly put in the ballot boxes.
"We were invited to confirm that there were no changes in the votes for the candidate pairs when the ballot boxes were opened. The examination showed no change in vote acquisition of all candidate pairs," he added. Another witness for the Relevant Party, Agus Daryanto, explained the chronology of the ballot boxes opening in Kesambi Village. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 | 18:40 WIB 175