Central Java Bawaslu Chairman Muhammad Fajar Saka delivering his statement in the DPR-DPRD PHPU hearing of Central Java Province on Tuesday (15/7) at the Panel Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) held a hearing on the DPR-DPRD (House of Representatives-Regional Legislative Council) Election Results Dispute (PHPU) of Central Java Province (Jateng) on Monday (15/07/2019) on the 4th floor of the Constitutional Court building. The Panel 2 was opened at 19.00 WIB by Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Aswanto, with Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra and Manahan M. P. Sitompul. The panel was to hear the response of the General Election Commission (KPU) as the Respondent as well as the statements of the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) and the Relevant Parties.

Central Java Bawaslu Chairman Muhammad Fajar Saka responded to the Nasdem Party’s statement in petition No. 188-05-13/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 in relation to the allegation of electoral violation by a candidate of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), who had allegedly mobilized the state civil apparatus (ASN) to attend the campaign.

"Wonogiri sub-district head Purwantoro who was involved in the violation had been processed by the ASN Commission and there was no involvement of the regent in that case. In addition, the allegation by the Nasdem Party of vote buying by the Gerindra Party in Central Java Province was not proven," Fajar Saka explained.

Fajar also explained the Petitioner’s argument on the internal dispute of the Gerindra Party No. 158-02-13/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 in relation to ballots from other electoral districts (dapil) in the election of the Magelang City DPRD members. "There were marked ballots from other electoral districts, which have been dealt with according to existing provisions, by including the votes for the candidates with marked ballots in the votes for the political parties," Fajar explained.

Meanwhile, the KPU explained the petition of the Democratic Party No. 55-14-13/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019. "The recapitulation of the vote count conducted by the KPU was appropriate and it was found that the Petitioner\'s data was inaccurate after a re-examination of documents from the KPU, Bawaslu, and other election participants," said Rian Wicaksana as KPU\'s attorney.

On the issue of ballot stuffing and vote purging of political parties and legislative candidates in Dapil Central Java 4 and 6 for the election of DPR RI members, PAN, PDIP, and the Democratic Party as Relevant Parties denied that violations had occurred in both electoral districts. "Especially in Dapil Central Java 6, the problem argued by the Democratic Party is an internal dispute. This should be resolved within the party," concluded Utomo Karim, the attorney of the Democratic Party. (Nano Tresna Arfana/NRA)

Translated by: MJK/YW