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The KPU\'s witness Warda giving a statement in 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 held the 2019 DPR-DPRD (House of Representatives - 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.

Case No. 229-07-27/PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 was filed by Berkarya Party candidate Nur Hidayah. The Petitioner claimed to have received 951 votes, but the Respondent determined 942 votes for the electoral district (Dapil) of Pangkajene 3 and Kepulauan, Pangkajene Regency. The Petitioner alleged there had been vote recapitulation errors by the local General Election Committee (KPU).

The Petitioner\'s witness Rustam said that 6 votes for Pangkajene Regency legislative candidate Nur Hidayah had been purged. This occurred at TPS (polling station) 12 of Atang Salo, Maerang Sub-district. In addition, there was also discrepancy in the C1 form copies. "We protested about this. We requested a recount at the sub-district but it was not accommodated," Rustam explained. In addition, he also reported it to the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) and the city Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Agency), which was also not accommodated.

Another witness for the Petitioner M. Arif Alif agreed to the statement of the first witness. He said there were indications of the purging of the Petitioner\'s votes. "In the PPK [Sub-district Election Committee], the ballots for candidate Nur Hidayah were deemed invalid by their own witnesses, even though PPK stated they were valid," he explained.

Responding to this statement, Warda as the KPU\'s witness dismissed the allegation of vote reduction against the Petitioner. He said that, at first, the witness refused the different C1 form copy. According to the local Panwaslu’s recommendations, he recounted the votes. "We opened the ballot boxes, then hologrammed C1 copies were matched to C1 Plano (form). Next we revised it based on the C1 Plano (form)," he said.

Warda added, the revision was written in the D2 form. The Berkarya Party\'s witness was present at the plenary meeting and received the revision.

The Petitioner\'s expert Radian Syam stated that the process of a fair, transparent, and accountable election was a reflection of people’s sovereignty. Elections must be implemented by election organizers as a form of public service.

Meanwhile, the Pangkajene Regency Bawaslu said that there was a report regarding the reduction of the Petitioner’s votes and a different C1 form copy, but Bawaslu had decided to reject the report because the KPU was not proven to have made administrative errors.

Besides the aforementioned cases, the panel of justices also examined case No. 44-13-27PHPU.DPR-DPRD/XVII/2019 submitted by individual Mule from the People\'s Conscience Party (Hanura).

Translated by: FS/YW

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