Witnesses being sworn before the Panel of Justices in the 2019Legislative PHPU of West Java Province on Tuesday (23/7) in the Panel 3 Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Teguh.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) held the 2019 DPR-DPRD (House of Representatives-Regional Legislative Council) legislative election results dispute (PHPU) hearing of West Java Province on Tuesday (23/7/2019). The hearing, presided over by Constitutional Justice I Dewa Gede Palguna, with Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and Wahiduddin Adams, heard the statements of the experts and witnesses for the Petitioners, Respondent, and Relevant Parties.

Previously, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in Case No. 10-08-12/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 had questioned the vote acquisition for the electoral district (dapil) of West Java 7. PKS accused that vote inflation had occurred in Tambun Selatan District, Bekasi Regency for the National Democratic Party (Nasdem, of around 6,000 votes. In Dapil Indramayu Regency 3, PKS questioned 137 of their votes that had been purged to benefit the Indonesian Unity Party (Perindo).

The Petitioner\\\'s witness from Indramayu Regency, Agung Mardianto, said that his camp received reports from witnesses at the village and subdistrict level regarding inflated votes at 11 polling stations (TPS) for Perindo. Meanwhile, PKS’s votes were reduced at 13 polling stations. "We objected to this incident during recapitulation at the district level because we just found out the loss of votes at this phase," he explained.

Responding to this statement, Maulani as the Respondent\\\'s witness denied this. Maulani as chairperson of the Kertamaya Subdistrict Election Committee (PPK) of Indramayu Regency stated that he immediately coordinated and inspected the issue. "We matched C1 form with those of other parties. The results matched and not as alleged by the Petitioner," he explained.

Another PKS witness, Ahmad Fadillah for Dapil West Java 7, revealed that the vote inflation for Nasdem had occurred in 10 villages in Tambun Selatan Subdistrict, Bekasi Regency at 233 polling stations (TPS). “DAA1 should have been issued after one or two workdays. But we received them after 12 working days," he explained. After being matched, the votes according to PKS’s calculation were different from the Respondent\\\'s version, he said.

Chairman of the Bekasi Regency KPU, Jajang Wahyudi, admitted that he had not compared the data as requested by PKS because his team at that time had not received a letter from Bawaslu, while PKS had. "During proceedings at the Constitutional Court, [we only just received] the letter from the Bawaslu. So we followed the current process," he explained.

In addition, the panel of justices also heard other cases: No. 202-11-12/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 filed by the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), No. 168-04-12/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 filed by the Golkar Party, as well as No. 123-12-12/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 filed by the National Mandate Party (PAN). (Arif Satriantoro/LA/RD)

Translated by: FS/YW