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JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The 2020 Boven Digoel Regency candidate pair No. 3 Martinus Wagi-Isak Bangri revised their petition over the regional head election (pilkada) results within the three-day deadline. On Friday, January 8, 2021, attorney Semy Benyamin A. Latunussa said his clients had submitted additional evidence and the revised petition to the petition reception at the Constitutional Court (MK).

The Petitioner added that a letter from the district court, which states that regent candidate No. 4 Yusak Yaluwo was not an ex-convict, was required for Yaluwo’s nomination. However, it is known to the public that Yaluwo had been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison and a fine of two hundred million rupiah based on a case review decision by the Supreme Court. The Petitioner also added the Constitutional Court’s Decision No. 56/PUU-XVII/2019 that requires ex-convicts to wait for five years after serving their full sentence before they could run in a regional head election.

Latunussa also said Yaluwo had not passed the five-year waiting period and thus wasn’t supposed to run in the election. 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 waiting period since the end of their sentence.

Candidate pair Martinus-Isak, who won 9,156 votes, filed a petition to the Court to object to the certification of candidate pair No. 4 Yusak Yaluwo-Yakob Yeremba, who won 16,319 votes, by the Boven Digoel Regency General Elections Commission (KPU).

“To us, this loss was invalid because [the Petitioner] was beat by a candidate pair who shouldn’t have been eligible to run in the election,” Latunussa added.

In the petition, the Petitioner are not questioning the margin of votes or the provision on the electoral threshold, but the verification of the other candidate pair by the Boven Digoel KPU and Bawaslu as well as their certification as winner of the election. The Petitioner also requested that the Court annul the certification and order a revote in all of Boven Digoel without candidate pair No. 4 as they considered Yusak Yaluwo’s nomination as regent was an unconstitutional violation that are structured, systematic, and massive (TSM).

Also read: Parole Status of Boven Digoel Regent Candidate Challenged

In the 2020 simultaneous pilkada, 270 regions held the election. The losing candidates filed their petition to the Constitutional Court. As of Friday, January 8, 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.    

The petition on Boven Digoel Regency election was the 136^th. The petition was filed 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.

Writer: Fuad Subhan
Editor: Nur R.
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (Editor: Indah Apriyanti)

Translation uploaded on 01/11/2021 18:05 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.

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