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Tuesday, February 16, 2021 | 09:48 WIB

Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul reading out the legal considerations at the Central Lombok Regency election results dispute hearing, Monday (15/2/2021) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Teguh.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) decided to declare the Central Lombok regent election results dispute petition by Candidate Pair No. 3 Masrun-Habib Ziadi inadmissible. The Decision No. 102/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 was read out by Chief Justice Anwar Usman alongside the other eight constitutional justices on Monday afternoon, February 15, 2021 in the plenary courtroom.

In the legal considerations read out by Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul, the Court observed the Petitioner legal standing regarding the threshold to file a petition of the 2020 regional head election results dispute. According to the Court, the population of Central Lombok Regency was 1,050,752, so the vote margin threshold between the Petitioner and the winning candidate pair would be 0.5% of the total votes at the final vote counting stage as certified by the regency’s General Elections Commission (KPU).

“Therefore, based on the provision of Article 158 paragraph (2) letter d of Law No. 1 of 2016, the vote margin between the Petitioner and the candidate pair with the most votes shall not exceed 0.5% x 522,542 total valid votes = 2,613 votes. The Petitioner votes were 155,391 while the Relevant Party’s were 199,299, so the vote margin between [them] was 43,908 votes (8.40%) or more than 2,613 votes, thus exceeding the threshold as required by Article 158 paragraph (2) letter d of Law No. 1 of 2016,” Justice Manahan read out.

Therefore, the Court didn’t consider the Petitioner’s arguments further because they were irrelevant and couldn’t show the significant impact of the vote acquisition on the certification of the winning candidate pair. The Court believes the arguments and evidence presented by the Petitioner were insufficient to convince the Court of the violation of Article 158 paragraph (2) of Law No. 1 of 2016 and that the a quo should continue to the evidentiary hearings.

Also read:

Candidate Pair for Regent and Vice Regent Brings Arguments on the Regional Head Election Results Dispute in Lombok Tengah, Sumbawa, and Bima 

KPU of Lombok Tengah: Degree Certificate of Pathul Bahri is Original

At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, Candidate Pair Masrun-Habib Ziadi questioned the certification of the 2020 Central Lombok Regency election vote counting recapitulation by the regency’s KPU. The KPU certified that the Petitioner earned 155,391 votes at second place, while the Candidate Pair No. 4 H. L. Pathul Bahri-H. Nursiah earned 199,299 votes. The Petitioner believed the vote margin was due to structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) administrative violations.

Writer: Melisa F. D.
Editor: Nur R.
Uploader: Rudi

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

Translation uploaded on 02/16/2021 15:19 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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