The Respondent\'s legal counsel represented by Agustino R. Mayor delivering response to the petitioners\' petition in the hearing on the 2018 Deiyai District Regent and Vice Regent Dispute case on Tuesday (6/11) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.
The Constitutional Court held the second hearing of the Dispute over the Results of the 2018 Regional Head Election of Deiyai Regent and Vice Regent on Tuesday (7/11) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. The case No. 72/PHP.BUP-XVI/2018 was chaired by Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Anwar Usman, in the presence of Constitutional Justices I Dewa Gede Palguna and Arief Hidayat.
To the petition’s argument elaborated by Deiyai Regent and Vice Regent Candidate Pair Number 4, Inarius Douw and Anakletus Doo, in the previous hearing, Deiyai District KPU (Respondent) through legal counsel Agustino R. Mayor responded that the Respondent as the organizing committee of the regional head election had made an effort to follow-up on the Constitutional Court Decision No. 35/PHP.BUP-XVI/2018 to hold a re-election in 12 polling stations (TPS) declared in the decision. Therefore, the Respondent was obligated to report the re-election results without leading to a new dispute and case. Based on the ne bis in idem principle and the final and binding Constitutional Court decision, the case No. 72/PHP.BUP-XVI/2018 had violated the KPU Regulation No. 2/2018 on the Amendment of the KPU Regulation No. 1/2017 on the Stages, Programs, and Schedule of the Implementation of the 2018 Elections of Governors and Vice Governors, Regents and Vice Regents, and/or Mayors and Vice Mayors.
"This violates [the regulation] because the national schedule and the program stages do not allow time to attempt legal suit of the object of the past dispute case No. 35/PHP.BUP-XVI/2018 and in principle [the case] has obtained a permanent legal decision," Agustino explained.
Threshold
In addition, in relation to the vote margin between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party (Ateng Edowai and Hengky Pigai/Candidate Pair Number 1), Agustino said that the re-election had resulted in: Ateng Edowai and Hengky Pigai (Candidate Pair Number 1) receiving 3,803 votes; Keni Ikamou and Abraham Tekege (Candidate Pair Number 2) receiving 5 votes; Dance Takimai and Robert Dawapa (Candidate Pair Number 3) receiving 5 votes, and the Petitioners receiving 1,570 votes.
Article 158 paragraph (1) of the Constitutional Court Law explains that in provinces with a population of up to two million, election results dispute case can only be filed if there is a maximum vote margin of two percent in the vote acquisition determination by the Provincial KPU. Meanwhile, in those with a population of 2-6 million, the maximum vote margin is 1.5 percent. "So the vote margin between both [candidate pairs] reached 40%. So, this has exceeded the threshold to declare it as a dispute," Agustino explained.
Taking Place Safely
In relation to the Petitioners\' claim of fraud by the Respondent at 12 polling stations, another attorney for the Respondent Stefanus Budiman stated that the re-election at 12 polling stations took place well, safely, and smoothly and had been supervised and guarded by the security and the Military (TNI).
In addition, Respondent strongly denied the allegation of manipulation of the Agreement Letter of Komauto Hamplet, Kapiray Sub-district, and the community of Diyai I Hamlet, West Tigi Sub-district. According to the Respondent, during the re-election there was no agreement letter confirming the evidence that strengthened the activity. According to Stefanus, voters came to the polling stations and made an agreement by writing it on the board and proceeded by the officers filling out the C1KWK form. "In addition, this activity took place under the supervision of the field committee and all TPS instruments," he explained.
Stefanus explained that the accusation that there had been violence or intimidation during the re-election so that the Respondent lost their independence was far-fetched because the re-election was monitored by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) and the National Police, so it would have been impossible for the Respondent to side with any candidate.
Not a New Case
The Court also presented the Relevant Party represented by Yance Salambau as attorney in response to the Petitioners\' exception, which he claimed not following laws. According to Yance, the Petitioners created a new case by filing for the a quo case. Based on existing provisions, if they wish to reject the re-election results, it should be proposed as a continuation of the previous case and not a new one. "So this creates the impression that the Deiyai District regent [re-]election in this [new] case is not in accordance with existing legal provisions," said Yance.
In addition, Yance said that the Petitioners\' argument that the election organizers at the village level could not read and write was disputable. In reality, Yance added, the Relevant Party in the field met with KPPS (Polling Station Working Committee) members, who were graduates of secondary schools and universities as evidenced by their diplomas.
In the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners argued that in the PSU there were violations and fraud committed by the Deiyai Regency KPU (Respondent) as well as Ateng Edowai and Hengky Pigai (Relevant Party/Candidate Pair Number 1). These violations include Respondent not being independent by siding with Candidate Pair Number 1; the Deiyai Regency KPU recalling election organizers at the villages; Respondent manipulating the agreement of the people of Komauto Village, Kapiraya District who had cast 1,208 votes for the Petitioners; and Respondent and Candidate Pair Number 1 using violence and intimidation to manipulate the results of the agreement of the people of Kampung Diyai I, Tigi Barat District, who had cast 2,000 votes for the Petitioners.
Therefore, the Petitioners had requested that the Court overturn the Decree of Deiyai Regency KPU No. 30/HK.03.1-Kpt/9128/KPU-Kab/X/2018 on vote recapitulation from each sub-district in the regional head election in Deiyai Regency; disqualify [the Relevant Party] for committing a structured, systematic, and massive violation; and determine the votes from the 2018 Deiyai Regent and Vice Regent Election according to the Petitioners, in which Ateng Edowai and Hengky Pigai (Candidate Pair Number 1) obtained 17,605 votes, Keni Ikamou and Abraham Tekege (Candidate Pair Number 2) received 7,548 votes, Dance Takimai and Robert Dawapa (Candidate Pair Number 3) received 15,226 votes, and the Petitioners received 20,619 votes. (Sri Pujianti/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)
Tuesday, November 06, 2018 | 17:09 WIB 109