Attorney Innocentius Teturan filing election results dispute petition of Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Papua Province, Monday (21/12/2020) at the hall of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Bayu.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—An election results dispute petition came from one of the easternmost regions of the Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday, December 21, 2020. Candidate pair No. 2 Costan Oktemka-Deki Dealy challenged the 2020 election results dispute petition of Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Papua Province. The General Elections Commission (KPU) of Pegunungan Bintang was deemed partial for certifying candidate pair No. 1 Spei Yan Birdana-Piter Kalakmabin as winners of the election.

Costan Oktemka-Deki Dealy questioned why Pegunungan Bintang KPU declared eligible candidate pair Yan Birdana-Piter Kalakmabin, a civil servant (PNS) and Pegunungan Bintang Regency DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) member, who didn’t meet administrative requirements. The law states that civil servants and DPRD members running for regional head elections (pilkada) are required to submit an authorization of resignation from an authorized official no later than 30 days before voting day.

Until voting day on December 9, 2020, the Pegunungan Bintang KPU as the Respondent let said ticket pass the 2020 pilkada despite only having a certificate from the Head of the Regional Civil Service Agency (BKD) No. 800/1753/BKD dated November 9, 2020 and an explanation letter from BKD Head No. 171/19469/SET dated November 6, 2020 that the decree on the dismissal of civil servant and Papua Governor Yan Birdana as one of the requirements for prospective candidates in the 2020 Pilkada is still being signed, while the Governor Decree regarding the dismissal or recall of Piter Kalakmabin is still being signed.

The Petitioner believes the Respondent’s action really and measurably affected the Petitioner’s votes significantly in 34 districts at 383 polling stations (TPS) due to the Respondent’s partiality in the 2020 election results dispute petition of Pegunungan Bintang Regency.

Writer: Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/22/2020 23:29 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.