Court staff members checking regional election documents, Wednesday (6/1/2021) Photo by Humas MK.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The 2020 Boven Digoel Regency election was challenged at the Constitutional Court (MK). Candidate pair No. 3 Martinus Wagi-Isak Bangri through their attorney filed a petition over the regional head election (pilkada) results on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 at 07:29 WIB. The Registrar’s Office recorded the petition in the filing certificate as No. 136/PAN.MK/AP3/01/2021.

Candidate pair Martinus-Isak, who won 9,156 votes, objected to the Boven Digoel Regency General Elections Commission (KPU), who certified candidate pair No. 4 Yusak Yaluwo-Yakob Yeremba with 16,319 votes. Martinus-Isak alleged that Yusak Yaluwo’s nomination as regent was an unconstitutional violation that are structured, systematic, and massive (TSM). They explained in the petition that in 2013 Yusak-Yacob was received a prison sentence of 4.5 years and a fine of Rp200,000,000 (two hundred million rupiah) based on a case review decision by the Supreme Court. This was a fact known by the people of Boven Digoel.

Meanwhile, Article 4 paragraph (1) letter f of the KPU Regulation No. 1 of 2020 on the Third Amendment to the Regulation of the General Elections Commission No. 3 of 2017 on the Nomination of Candidates of Governor and Vice Governor, and/or Mayor and Deputy Mayor stipulates that one of the requirements as a candidate is the absence of criminal sentence based on a court decision that has obtained permanent legal force due to a criminal act subject to prison sentence of 5 years or more, with the exception of negligence or political crime in the sense of having a political view that differs from that of the regime in power. Article 4 paragraph (2a) stipulates that a candidate should have passed a 5-year gap since the end of their sentence.

Martinus-Isak claimed that the case review decision No. 127 PK/Pid.Sus/2012, read out on September 11, 2013, had legal force, so Yusak Yaluwo served the sentence since 2013 and was paroled on August 8, 2014 until May 26, 2017. Until 2020, it hadn’t been 5 years since he served his full prison sentence, as referred to Article 4 paragraph (2a). As a consequence, he should’ve only been able to run for pilkada in 2022.

During his parole, Yaluwo was technically still serving his sentence so he wasn’t a former convict. First, he could still return to prison if he violated the conditions of his parole. Second, he still had to report to law enforcement. Third, he still had technical and administration with the Directorate General of Corrections of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. Fourth, according to Article 1 point 32 of Law No. 8 of 1981 on the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP), a convict is a person serving a sentence based on a court decision that has obtained permanent legal force. Therefore, an ex-convict, has completed their full sentence based on a court decision that has obtained a permanent legal force.

As of Wednesday, January 6, 2021, the Court has received 136 petitions of the 2020 pilkada disputes—115 petitions at regency level, 14 by at city level, and 7 at province level. The progress of the 2020 pilkada election disputes can be viewed on the Court’s website.   

Writer: Siti Rosmalina Nurhayati/Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Nur R.
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (Editor: Indah Apriyanti)

Translation uploaded on 01/07/2021 15:41 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.