Nasdem Party’s mandate witness Bacu Keliwar (center) conveying a testimony in the 2019 DPR-DPRD Election Results Dispute (PHPU) hearing of Maluku Province on Thursday (25/7) in the Panel Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The 2019 DPR-DPRD (House of Representatives-Regional Legislative Council) Election Results Dispute (PHPU) hearing of Maluku Province were held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Thursday (25/7/2019) at 13.00 WIB in Panel 2, presided over by Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Aswanto, with Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra and Manahan M. P. Sitompul.

The Golkar Party as Petitioner for the case No. 175-04-31/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 presented Bacu Keliwar as a mandate witness for the NasDem Party at sub-district level during the 2019 Legislative Election in Maluku Province.

During the hearing, Bacu talked about the plenary vote recapitulation on April 23-27, 2019 in Gorom Island Sub-district, East Seram Regency. The next day, the Gorom Island Sub-District Election Committee (PPK) suspended the vote recapitulation until May 11, 2019. During the break, they filled in the DA1 form. After that, Bacu was invited to attend a plenary session to determine the vote recapitulation at the sub-district level on May 12, 2019.

Bacu said that when he was a mandate witness for the NasDem Party, before the sub-district vote recapitulation, he had once asked that the witnesses be given the DA1 form during the suspension. However, the PPK of Gorom Island did not respond to the request.

Baku’s statement about the suspension on April28-May11, 2019 after the plenary vote recapitulation by PPK Gorom Island was confirmed by the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) of Maluku Province. It was intended to fill the minute. According to Maluku Bawaslu, the vote recapitulation process in Gorom Island Sub-district was conducted openly, attended by witnesses and election supervisors. After that, the numbers were recorded into the DA1 for vote recapitulation. Meanwhile, the results of the vote recapitulation plenary meeting were announced by the General Elections Commission (KPU) on May 12, 2019.

Meanwhile, the NasDem Party as Petitioner for Case No. 190-05-31/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 presented witness Kicpatrick Alexander Tuwatanassy, who explained the NasDem vote results from the vote recapitulation at Baguala PPK, Ambon City at TPS (polling station) 9, TPS 20, TPS 46 in Paso Village and TPS 11 in Halong Village, Baguala Sub-district. “There was a reduction of 70 of Nasdem’s votes at TPS 9. While at TPS 20 and TPS 46 each, votes for Nasdem decreased by one. Then, 2 of Nasdem’s votes was purged at TPS 11," said Kickpatrick.

Baguala PPK Chairperson Rudolf Hursepuny explained that the recount at Baguala PPK was not disputed by the parties. "There was no objection to the recount," Rudolf explained. (Nano Tresna Arfana/NRA)

Translated by: MJK/YW