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The Petitioner' attorney was present at the hearing of the Karo Regent Election Dispute and Medan Mayor Election Dispute at the Constitutional Court, Wednesday (27/1/2021).

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court— The dispute over the election results (PHP) of the Karo Regent and the Mayor of Medan in 2020 was examined in the session of Panel 2 of the Constitutional Court (MK), Wednesday afternoon (27/1/2021). The petition of Karo Regent PHP filed by Candidate Pair No. 1 Jusua Ginting and Saberina Br. Tarigan (Case No. 05/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021) and Candidate Pair No. 3 Iwan Sembiring Depari and Budianto Surbakti (Case Number 06/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021). Meanwhile, the PHP case for the Mayor of Medan was filed by Candidate Pair Akhyar Nasution and Salman Alfarisi.

Both of Petitioners objected to the Decree of the Karo Regency General Election Commission (KPU) No.  60/PL.02.6-Kpt/1206/KPU-Kab/XII/2020 concerning the certification of vote count recapitulation of the 2020 regent election asd per December 15, 2020. Based on the KPU Decree, Jusua Ginting and Saberina Br. Tarigan was in the second place with 52,019 votes. Meanwhile, Iwan Sembiring Depari and Budianto Surbakti was in the third place with 51,103 votes. Then, the winning candidate pair with the highest number of votes were Candidate Pair No. 5 Cory Sriwati Sebayang and Theopilus Ginting with a total of 59,608 votes.

"Jusua Ginting and Saberina Br. Tarigan rejected the KPU decision because it was suspected that there had been a violation such as marking up the votes which later the evidence would be tried in the next hearing. The ballooning of ballots occurred in many areas in Karo Regency which was allegedly carried out by the winning candidate pair," said S Firdaus Tarigan as the attorney for Jusua Ginting and Saberina Br. Tarigan, to the Panel of Justices (Panel 2) led by Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Aswanto accompanied by Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh.

Meanwhile, Iwan Sembiring Depari and Budianto Surbakti argue that there is a potential for additional votes for Candidate Pair No. 1 and No. 5 in Karo Regency. One of the reasons is the practice of money politics in all Polling Stations (TPS) situated in Karo Regency. In addition, it is suspected that there were administrative and technical errors carried out by KPU which contradicted KPU Regulation (PKPU) No. 18 of 2020 and PKPU No. 19 of 2020 and the applicable laws.

Other violations that were allegedly committed in the process of organizing the elections were Polling Station Working Committee (KPPS), Polling Committee (PPS), Sub-district Election Committee (PPK), and Regional Elections Commission (KPUD) who were unable to work honestly and professionally and even helped the implementation of money politics for the interest of Candidate Pair No. 5. Therefore, the two candidate pairs asked MK to accept and grant the two candidate pairs in their entirety. Then, asked MK to annul the KPU Decree and order to re-vote in some sub-districts where violations were suspected.

Akhyar-Salman Was Absent

The session in Panel 2 at 13.30 WIB was originally scheduled to hold the preliminary session of the 2020 Medan Mayor PHP. The petition with case No. 41/PHP.KOT-XIX/2021 filed by Candidate Pair  Akhyar Nasution and Salman Alfarisi. However, when the trial started, the Petitioner were not present at the session.

"Until the time the session is about to begin, based on the information from the Registrar's Office, Petitioner of 41 case has not yet been present to the trial," said Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh.

Writer: Fuad Subhan/Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Nur R.
Uploader: Nur Budiman
Translator: SO (Editor: NL)

Managing Editor: BW

Translation uploaded on 01/28/2021 at 08.40 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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