---

Tabrani, as PBB’s attorney delivering a response to a petition in the DPR-DPRD PHPU of South Sumatra Province on Thursday (18/7) 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 of the DPR-DPRD (House of Representatives-Regional Legislative Council) Election Results Dispute (PHPU) of South Sumatera Province in Panel 2 on Thursday (18/7/2019) at 08:00 WIB, presided over by Chief Justice Aswanto, with Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra and Manahan M. P. Sitompul. The hearings were to hear the response of the General Election Commission (KPU) as the Respondent as well as the statement of the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) and the Relevant Parties.

KPU (Respondent) denied the argument of the National Awakening Party (PKB) in petition No. 24-01-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 regarding the alleged ballot stuffing in the DPRD election in the electoral district (Dapil) of South Sumatra 7.

Previously, the Petitioner had argued that there had been ballot stuffing for PKB candidate M. Oktaviansyah in the Dapil South Sumatra 7 at a number of polling stations (TPS) in five sub-districts of South Sumatra. The ballot stuffing resulted in the decrease of the Petitioner’s votes by 100 votes.

"The purging of the Petitioner’s votes by 100 votes was incorrect. Similarly, ballot stuffing for PKB candidate Oktaviansyah was also not true,” explained Akhmad Jazuli, KPU\'s attorney.

The KPU also denied the petition by the People\'s Conscience Party (Hanura) No. 36-13-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 about vote purging against the Petitioner in the election of Palembang City DPRD in Dapil Palembang 3. For example, based on the Regency/City C1-DPRD form in TPS 06 Ilir 8 Village, the Petitioner received 29 votes. According to the DAA-1 form, the Petitioner received 28 votes.

"The argument was not true. Based on the copy of the Regency/City C1-DPRD form, the real votes for the Petitioner were 28 votes," said Ari Firman Rinaldi, KPU\'s attorney.

Furthermore, the KPU denied the arguments of United Development Party (PPP) in petition No. 106-10-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 regarding alleged vote purging against the Petitioner\'s votes by 1,550 votes at 10 polling stations in several South Sumatra regions. According to the Petitioner, the Petitioner received 3,991 votes. Whereas according to the Respondent, the Petitioner received 2,441 votes. According to the Respondent, the Petitioner’s argument was unclear, because it did not mention vote purging at each polling station. Instead, the Petitioner mentioned discrepancy between valid and invalid votes or vote purging against other political parties.

In addition, the KPU denied the arguments of the petition by Berkarya Party No. 209-07-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019. The Petitioner questioned ballot stuffing for the Golkar Party in four sub-districts in Dapil Musi Banyuasin 4. However, the Respondent denied the Petitioner\'s argument, stating it was not true and legally groundless. According to the Respondent, the Petitioner used unclear data references in delivering their petition. The Respondent\'s counting process had been carried out correctly. If there was a miscalculation, the Respondent conducted a review and correction at a higher level witnessed by witnesses of political parties and election supervisors.

Next, the KPU also denied the argument of the petition by Crescent Star Party (PBB) No. 93-19-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019. The Petitioner argued that the Respondent had made a mistake in calculating the vote in the Election of Lahat Regency DPRD members in Dapil Lahat 4 and in the Election of the Palembang City DPRD members. Meanwhile, the KPU denied the argument of petition by Perindo Party No. 132-09-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/ XVII/2019 about alleged vote purging against the Petitioner.

Meanwhile, the PBB as the Relevant Party denied the argument in the PKB\'s petition regarding ballot stuffing in several subdistricts of Palembang. Similarly, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) as the Relevant Party denied the argument in a petition by PBB on voters not having e-ID and not being registered in the Final Voters List (DPT) or the Additional Voters List (DPTb) but still able to vote.  Regarding this argument, the Respondent explained that the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of Pali Regency had to conduct a revote and recount of the votes. (Nano Tresna Arfana/NRA)

Translated by: MJK/YW

---