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Monday, February 15, 2021 | 18:46 WIB

Adhitya A. Nasution, the attorney of Sabu Raijua regent Candidate Pair No. 1 Nikodemus N. Rihi Heke-Yohanis Yly Kale filing a dispute petition over the Sabu Raijua Regency election results, Monday (15/2/2021) in the hall of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Yuwandi.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Candidate Pair No. 1 Nikodemus N. Rihi Heke-Yohanis Yly Kale filed a dispute petition over the Sabu Raijua Regency election results on Monday, February 15, 2021.

Through attorney Adhitya A. Nasution, the Petitioner requested the annulment of the confirmation of the elect regent-vice regent of Sabu Raijua. “We know [the election] in the regency was won by a foreign national. Although it is still being reviewed, the elect candidate pair already admitted that he holds a U.S. nationality,” Nasution said.

The Petitioner hopes the Court can make a legal breakthrough in order to fill the regulatory vacuum. Nasution explained that the case in Sabu Raijua Regency hasn’t occurred anywhere in the country, so there are no regulations regarding the incident.

“We hope the Court can make a legal breakthrough. It will be good for the future of Sabu Raijua community and will set a precedent. It will be efficient when such a legal issue appears if the Court has had a basis of precedent to rule on the case as filed by the Petitioner, if the petition is granted. And we hope the Court will have the courage to make a legal breakthrough for this legal issue,” he said to the Court’s media crew after filing the petition.

He added that the Petitioner had only discovered the fact after the regent election had been completed. “We only discovered it two weeks ago, and only after Sabu Raijua Regency Bawaslu [Elections Supervisory Body] urged the U.S. Embassy to clarify [the candidate’s] status. Despite the deadline that the Court has set, we still believe that the Court is willing to adjudicate on our case fairly,” he stressed.

Nasution added that the Petitioner isn’t questioning the vote acquisition of Candidate Pair No. 2 Orient P. Riwu Kore-Thobias Uly. “From the beginning, we don’t [question it] because we are aware of the [vote margin] threshold, but this is a new finding that we only discovered after the [election] process is complete. The Court as the [institution] mandated by the law must be able to rule on this, and we sincerely hope that the Court is willing to give us legal certainty,” he said.

Three candidate pairs participated in the 2020 Sabu Raijua Regency election: Candidate Pair No. 1 Nikodemus N. Rihi Heke-Yohanis Yly Kale, Candidate Pair No. 2 Orient P. Riwu Kore-Thobias Uly, and Candidate Pair No. 3 Takem Irianto Radja Pono-Herman Hegi Radja. The elect regent Orient Patriot Riwu Kore is allegedly a U.S. national.

Writer: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari

Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti
Editor: NL

Translation uploaded on 02/19/2021 16:16 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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