Attorney of legislative candidate Lamhot Sinaga registering to be the Relevant Party in the 2019 Legislative PHPU hearing in the ground floor of the Constitutional Court, Monday (8/7). Photo by Humas MK/Teguh.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court received the Golongan Karya Party’s request to be the Relevant Party for the election results dispute (PHPU) case for North Sumatra’s electoral district (dapil) 2, Monday (8/7/2019).

Attorney Muslim Jaya Butar-Butar revealed that this case is an internal dispute between Golkar candidates. He represents Lamhot Sinaga as a candidate the House of Representatives. Muslims stated that the margin of votes between his client and the Petitioner is around 950 votes. He was optimistic that his client would maintain his victory. His camp is ready to respond to the arguments submitted by the Petitioner. "We are sure to win. We will break the arguments of the petition one by one," he said.

Muslim also claimed that today he came to complete the document as the Relevant Party, including the complete list of evidence. "The registration deadline is tomorrow, but we are submitting it today to be better prepared," he explained.

At the same time, head of the legal team of the Central Executive Board of the National Mandate Party (DPP PAN) Surya Imam Wahyudi withdrew some petitions at the Constitutional Court. Among those petitions are the House of Representatives (DPR RI) candidacy for Electoral District 5 of East Java, DPR RI candidacy for Electoral District 5 of Central Java, the District Legislative Council (DPRD) candidacy for Electoral District of 2 Serang District, as well as the District Legislative Council (DPRD) candidacy for Asmat Papua Electoral District.

"It is not without reason that we are withdrawing the petitions, because this concerns the evidence process," he said. For example, said Surya, if the Petitioner argues a loss of 1,000 votes, more than that amount ought to be proven. Instead of not being able to prove, he said, it is better to withdraw the petition. "It saves time and doesn\'t waste time. On the one hand, so as not to burden the Court," he explained.

Surya also mentioned PAN\'s position as the Relevant Party in the 2019 Legislative PHPU. For example, in Electoral District 1 of West Nusa Tenggara 1 for DPR RI, Electoral District 6 of Central Java for Provincial DPRD, and  Electoral District 3 of DKI Jakarta  for DPR RI. His camp was optimistic about winning because the vote margins were quite high. "In West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), we have a margin of approximately 19 thousand votes with Golkar. While in Jakarta, there is a margin of approximately 40 thousand votes with Golkar," he said.

Meanwhile, Head of the Public Relations and Domestic Cooperation Department Fajar Laksono said that the 2019 Legislative PHPU hearings start tomorrow. As many as 260 cases have been registered.

"The hearings will be divided into 3 panels. Panel I [deals with] 85 cases, Panel II with 89 cases, and Panel III with 86 cases," he said. The division was created because the 2019 Legislative PHPU resolution is limited to 30 working days. This is done in order [for the hearings] to finish on time," said Fajar. (Arif Satriantoro/LA/RD)

Translated by: FS/YW