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The KPU’s attorney Marhumah Majid giving a statement at the second hearing of the Pangkajene and Kepulauan Regency election results dispute, Thursday (4/2/2021) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court’s (MK) Panel I, presided over by Chief Justice Anwar Usman alongside Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Wahiduddin Adams, heard the responses from the Respondent, Relevant Party, and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) for case No. 69/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 on the dispute over the Pangkajene and Kepulauan regency election. The second hearing took place on Thursday morning, February 4, 2021.

At the beginning, the regency KPU as the Respondent refuted the allegation made by Candidate Pair No. 2 Rahman Assagaf-Muammar Muhayang of structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations by the Respondent. “The petition didn’t detail how the TSM money politics by the Respondent had led to the Petitioner’s loss of votes. Therefore, the Respondent believes the augments were premature and baseless,” said attorney Marhumah Majid.

The Respondent explained that the alleged vote buying or “money politics” in several subdistricts had happened before voting. Marhumah said they were administrative violations that had to be reported to the regency Bawaslu within seven days, per Bawaslu Regulation No. 8 of 2020.

“If the money politics is categorized as a TSM violation, it is to be reported to the South Sulawesi Province Bawaslu no later than seven days per Bawaslu Regulation No. 9 of 2020, not to the Constitutional Court,” the Respondent stressed.

Marhumah also said the KPU RI had sent a letter to the regency KPU and Bawaslu to inquire about the report. Bawaslu responded by saying that no witness could corroborate the allegation.

Meanwhile, the Relevant Party (Yusran Lalogau-Syahban Samana) through Jamil Misbach said that the Petitioner didn’t use their right to report to Bawaslu about the alleged TSM violations. Therefore, in their petitum, the Relevant Party requested that the Court grant the Relevant Party’s objections in full and reject the entire petition.

Similarly, Bawaslu through Samsir Salam stated that they had received report from the South Sulawesi Province Bawaslu on the violations in Bungoro, Minasatene, Pangkajene, Segiri, Tangaya, and Tondong Tallasa Subdistricts. Samsir said the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu) had convene for the second time on December 23, 2020 at 19:30 WITA and decided that the report didn’t meet the criteria for electoral criminal acts and thus terminated.

Also read: Manipulation in East Luwu, North Luwu, Pangkajene-Kepulauan Regency Elections

At the previous hearing, Candidate Pair No. 2 Rahman Assagaf-Muammar Muhayang alleged that there had been structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations in the election, including “money politics” in Bungoro, Minasatene, Pangkajene, Segiri, Tangaya, and Tondong Tallasa Subdistricts.

Petition of Bulukumba Regency Withdrawn

In the same session, Panel I was supposed to examine case No. 04/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 for Bulukumba Regency. However, the petition had been withdrawn, so the responses from the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu were not heard.

Also read: Dispute over Barru Regency Election Requirements and TSM Violations in Bulukumba Regency Election

The petition was filed by Askar HL–Andi Makasau. Attorney Jusman said that the number of total valid votes in the final vote count by the KPU was 237,022—the Petitioner earned 67,885 votes, Candidate Pair No. 4 Muchtar Ali Yusuf–Edy Manaf (Relevant Party) 92,978 votes. Their margin stands at 25,123 votes. Those alleged violations occurred in ten sub-districts across Bulukumba. The Petitioner also suspected an error in the vote margin between them and the Relevant Party in eight sub-districts, amounting to 33,667 votes.

Writer: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Uploader: Fuad Subhan

Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti
Editor: R.A. Indah Apriyanti
Managing Editor: Budi Wijayanto

Translation uploaded on 02/05/2021 11:14 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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