Congratulations to Meki Nawipa as Relevant Party after the ruling hearing of the Paniai Regent and Deputy Regent Election Dispute Settlement (PHP), Monday (17/9) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

The Constitutional Court (MK) did not accept the petition for the Dispute on Election Results (PHP) of the Paniai Regent and Deputy Regent, stated in Decision No. 71/PHP.BUP-XVI/2018 read by Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Anwar Usman in the presence of the other constitutional justices on Monday (17/9). "Declares the petition not accepted," Justice Anwar declared.

The Court considered that the Petitioners, Candidate Pair Number 1 Hengky Kayame and Yeheskiel Tenouye, did not have a legal standing to file the petition because they did not fulfill the requirements as referred to in Article 158 of the Election Law and Article 7 of PMK 5/2017. Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo who read out the legal considerations explained that based on the Population per District Aggregate Data (DAK2) of Semester I of 2017 from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the KPU RI, the population of Paniai District was 117,047. Therefore, the vote margin between the Petitioners and the candidate pairs who won the most votes was at most 2% of the 162 valid votes from the final vote counting results set by the Paniai District KPU or 2,016 votes.

"The votes received by the Petitioners were 29,761 votes, while the Relevant Party (the most voted candidate pair) received 71,072 votes, so the vote margin between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party was 41,311 votes (40.97%) or more than 2,016 votes," said Justice Suhartoyo.

Regarding the recommendation for re-voting in Aradide, Topiyai, Bogobaida, and Ekadide Subdistricts, Justice Suhartoyo said it did not affect the election results. Because, he continued, if all voters in the regions had voted for the Petitioners, the vote margin from the Relevant Party would still be high.

"The recommendation for the five subdistricts, namely East Paniai, West Paniai, Kebo, Yagai, and Baya Biru, was only known after the Petitioners submitted a petition revision. After observation, we did not find structured, systemic, massive (TSM) fraud. Therefore we dismissed [the recommendation]," he said. (Arif/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)