The Petitioner\'s witness Akmal Tabibgiving a statement in the further hearing in the 2019 DPR-DPRD PHPU of South Sulawesi Province on Thursday (25/7) 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-DPD-DPRD (House of Representatives-Regional Representatives Council-Regional Legislative Council) legislative election results dispute (PHPU) hearing of South Sulawesi Province on Thursday (25/7/2019). 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 United Development Party (PPP) in Case No. 110-10-27/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 questioned the vote acquisition for the DPRD seat of the electoral district (Dapil) of Takalar 1. The Petitioner’s votes were reduced and there were problems in the revote (PSU). The Petitioner\'s witness Akmal Tabib explained that the revote problem at TPS (polling station) 4 of Lassang Village was related to the absence of ballot papers to vote for legislative candidates. "[In] the revote there were only ballots for the presidential and vice presidential election," he explained.

The former Lassang Village Polling Station Working Committee (KPPS) member explained the reason to hold a revote. During Election Day on April 17, 2019 two voters used electronic IDs to vote at a TPS in Lassang Village and were given 5 ballot papers. Upon investigation, said Akmal, both their ID cards showed as residents outside of Takalar Regency, making them ineligible to vote at the TPS.

"I found out after the voting occurred. So, it was corrected at a higher level, during calculating at the sub-district level,” explained Akmal. Then, he said, the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) recommended a revote. Unfortunately, during the revote, the ballots papers available were only for the president and vice president. There were no ballot papers to vote for legislative candidates.

Another witness of the Petitioner, Samsul Hidayat, revealed many complaints related to problematic DA2 form. This was protested at the PPK level, but was promised to be resolved at the regency level. "I remember the C7 form was not available in TPS 4 of Lassang Village and TPS 2 of Towata Village," he explained.

Samsul said, during the incident, Panwaslu was in attendance and noted the existing problems. However, Takalar Regency Bawaslu said that these problems did not affect the results.

Responding to this, Sunardi as the KPU\'s witness dismissed the accusation by the Petitioner\'s witness in relation to the complaint of C7 forms and DA2 forms not being available. He confirmed the revote problem. The Respondent\'s other witness Saparuddin denied all of the Petitioner\'s allegations. He said that in each vote recapitulation plenary meeting there had been no objections from the Petitioner. In line with the statement, the Respondent\'s witness M. Zakir also denied all accusations from the Petitioner, deeming them baseless.

Besides the aforementioned cases, the hearing also heard case No. 151-02-27/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 for the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and case No. 79-03-27/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP). (Arif Satriantoro/LA/RD)

Translated by: FS/YW