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Chairman of Nabire KPU, Wihelmus Degey, explained to Panel 2 regarding the geographical conditions of Dipa District, Thursday (04/02). Photo: PR/Ilham.

JAKARTA, PUBLIC RELATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT – The Constitutional Court (MK) held the second hearing of the 2020 Nabire Regent Election Results Dispute on Thursday (4/2/2021) at 08.00 WIB. The agenda was listening the responses of KPU (General Elections Commission, Respondent), the statements of Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Agency) and Relevant Party, as well as the approval of evidences. The hearing which was held o Panel 2 presided by Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Aswanto, accompanied by Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh.

The Panel heard the answers from the General Election Commission (KPU) of Nabire Regency to the three petitions. First, the petition on case No. 84/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 filed by Fransiscus Xaverius and Tabroni bin M Cahya. Second, petition No. 101/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 filed by Yufinia Mote and Muhammad Darwis. Third, petition No. 116/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 filed by Deki Kayame and Yunus Pakopa.

The object of the petitions were the request for the cancellation of Nabire KPU Decree (Respondent) No. 54/PL.02.6-Kpt/9104/KPU-Kab/XII/2020 concerning the certification of vote count result recapitulations of the 2020 Nabire Regent Election as per December 17, 2020. In the recapitulation it was stated that the Yufinia Mote and Muhammad Darwis (Candidate Pair No. 1) received 61,423 votes, Mesak Magai and Ismail Djamaludin (Candidate Pair No. 2) received 61,729 votes then declared as the winner, and Fransiscus Xaverius and Tabroni Bin M Cahya (Candidate Pair No. 3) received 46,224 votes.

Not MK’s Authority

Nabire KPU revealed an answer to the principal pleading of Yufinia-Darwis. It was Abdul Haris, as the attorney for KPU, who stated that MK was not authorized to examine, hear, and decide upon the petition. The Petitioner did not explain the correct vote count according to them and could not explain how many votes were correct according. The Respondent believed that the Petitioner should have described the correct vote count errors, as stipulated in Article 8 Paragraph 3 Letter b No. 4 of the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 6 of 2020.

"This itself is recognized by the Petitioners' statement in their petition on page 4 point 2 which basically states that they have not been able to derive the correct vote count according to them," explained Abdul Haris.

Furthermore, the Respondent responded the petitum which stated that KPU was not democratic in holding the elections and firmly stated that the allegations were false and had no legal basis. The accusation is only limited to the Petitioner's assumption due to the fact that none of the decisions from Bawaslu, Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP), or any election criminal decisions with permanent legal force, stating that the Respondent has committed serious violations.

Not Eligible

Hereinafter, the Respondent responded Deki-Yunus' petition. The attorney, Budi Rahman, explained that MK only has the authority to decide cases related to vote acquisition results dispute of the regional head election. Meanwhile, the main point of the petition is an issue related to administrative matters, which are the authority of Bawaslu.

The Respondent emphasized that the main point was a technical problem related to KPU's unprofessionalism. Meanwhile. it should be related to the code of ethics issues which MK could not resolve. Therefore, KPU requested to declare that it is unauthorized to decide the petition.

Budi also explained the allegations of violations that caused Deki-Yunus failed to become a candidate in the 2020 Nabire Regional Head Elections, caused by the Respondent and PPS who did not carry out factual verification according to the rules of Article 23 PKPU No. 3 of 2017 jo KPU Regulations (PKPU) No. 1 of 2020.

According to the regulations, a candidate must have a total support of 10% of the total DPT. Furthermore, in the period of revision of nomination submissions, according to the official report, the Petitioner only submitted the support requirements of 26,474 people in which 9483 documents were declared complete, while the required number to be submitted by individual prospective candidates was 21,377 supports.

"By looking at the facts, KPU determined that the Petitioner did not meet the requirements to become a candidate pair in the 2020 Nabire Regional Head Elections," asserted Budi.

Past the Deadline

At the same session, the Respondent stated that Fransiscus-Tabroni was late and had passed the deadline in submitting the revised application. Based on this, the Respondent requested MK to annul the a quo petition or it could not be accepted. The petitum also requested MK to grant all the exceptions submitted, namely objecting the Petitioner's petition entirely, and stating that KPU Decree No. 54/PL.02.6-Kpt/9104/KPU-Kab/XII/2020 is correct.

Before closing the session, the Panel II Justices informed that they will report all three cases of the Nabire Regent to the Justice Deliberation Meeting (RPH) for a decision. For cases that are declared to be continued, the Court's Registrar's Office will be informed about the number of witnesses and others before conducting the next hearing session.

 

Writer: Siti Rosmalina Nurhayati
Editor: Nur R

Uploader: Nur Budiman
Translator: SO

Editor: NL

Managing editor: BW

Translation uploaded on 02/05/2020 15.45 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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