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Aceh Party attorney Murtadha submitting additional evidence in the 2019 PHPU hearing of DPRA Dapil Aceh 4 in Central Aceh District on Tuesday 9/7) in the Panel 1 Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Mantox.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court held the preliminary hearing of the 2019 DPR-DPRD legislative election results dispute (PHPU) of Aceh Province in the Panel 1 Courtroom of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday afternoon (9/7/2019). One of the cases being heard is that numbered 46-15-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019. Attorney Murtadha claimed vote discrepancy between the Petitioner and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) of the electoral district (Dapil) of Aceh 4 in Central Aceh District.

Murtadha illustrated the vote results for DPRA candidates in Pegasing Sub-district. The Petitioner alleged that DPRA candidate No. 5 Muhammad Ridwan of PDI-P received 11 votes, which should have been only 1 vote. He alleged vote discrepancy in the C1-DPRA form in TPS 01 of Padekok Village. “As a result of the vote inflation, the Petitioner’s seat number 6 was impacted,” explained Murtadha, who came with another attorney, Ridwan Hadi.

Therefore, in his petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Court annul the KPU Decree dated May 21, 2019 for the DPRA election of Dapil Aceh 4 and declare that the accurate vote results be declared 12,691 for the Petitioner and 12,623 for the PDI-P candidate.

Return of Votes

In the same hearing, the Court examined the petition No. 89-16-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 filed by Said Mustajab, the SIRA Party’s candidate No. 2 of Dapil Nagan Raya I. According to the recapitulation of the Nagan Raya Independent Election Commission (KIP), the SIRA Party received 3 seats in the Aceh Regency Legislative Council (DPRK). However, the most votes went to the SIRA Party’s candidate No. 3 Puji Hartini.

“While, in fact, based on Dapil Nagan Raya I DPRK C1 form, the Petitioner received more votes than the other candidates. For this, the Petitioner request that the Court return those votes,” Muchlis explained.

Muchlis added that the switched votes occurred in 4 sub-districts—Beutong, East Seunagan, Seunagan, and Sukamakmue. In the petitum,the Petitioner requested that the Court declare the accurate vote results for Nagan Raya 1 DPRK 1.399 votes for Candidate No. 2 Said Mustajab and 1,352 votes for Candidate No. 3.

Vote Inflation

The United Development Party (PPP), represented by M. Ardi, claimed that there had been vote inflation and reduction in Dapil Sabang Municipality I. The Petitioner of case No. 103-10-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 challenged his vote margin with the Crescent Star Party’s (PBB) candidate. After the declaration of the Sabang Municipality KIP and the KPU Decree, the Petitioner’s votes were reduced, while those for PBB’s candidate were inflated. This, Ardi explained, occurred in 8 polling stations (TPS), leading to the Petitioner losing 4 votes from 469 to 465. Meanwhile, PBB’s votes were inflated from 438 to 472. The vote inflation impacted PPP’s ticket to the last seat in Dapil Sabang Municipality I for Suka Karya Sub-district. “This violation by the Respondent had occurred in the recapitulation at the PPK (Sub-district Election Committee),” Ardi explained.

Lost Opportunity

For Dapil Kabupaten Aceh Besar 5, PPP’s attorney Bagus Setiawan conveyed that his client’s vote results according to witnesses were 3,478, while the Aceh Nanggroe Party (PNA) received 3,473 votes. The vote margin caused PPP to lose 10 votes, while PNA received additional 13 votes.

“The reduction and inflation [of votes] impacted the total vote results at the district level that PPP received, thus removing the Petitioner’s opportunity of gaining a seat in the Aceh Besar District DPRK,” said Bagus.

In the same hearing, the panel of justices also heard petitions No. 189-05-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 by the Nasdem Party, No. 66-14-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 by the Democratic Party, No. 185-18-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 by the Aceh Nanggroe Party (PNA), No. 07-08-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), No. 248-17-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 by the Aceh Regional Party, No. 92-19-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 by the Crescent Star Party (PBB), and No. 176-04-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 by the Golongan Karya Party.

In addition, the Court also examined petition No. 219-07-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 and 249-07-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019, petitioned by the Berkarya Party, which was not attended by the Petitioners until the hearing was over. Before concluding the hearing, Justice Anwar informed that the next hearing will commence on Monday, July 15, 2019 at 14:00 WIB to hear the Respondent’s response and the statements of the Relevant Party and Bawaslu. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by Yuniar Widiastuti

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