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Sungai Penuh Mayoral Election Dispute Petition Doesn’t Meet Threshold

Tuesday, February 16, 2021 | 18:07 WIB

Constitutional Justice Aswanto alongside the other eight constitutional justices reading out the verdict for the Sungai Penuh City election case No. 67/PHP.KOT-XIX/2021, Tuesday (16/2/2021) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court (MK) rendered the Sungai Penuh City mayor election results dispute petition by Candidate Pair No. 2 Fikar Azami-Yos Adrino inadmissible. "[The Court] … declares the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible," said plenary chairman Chief Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman along with the other constitutional justices at the pronouncement of Decision No. 67/PHP.KOT-XIX/2021, Tuesday morning, February 16, 2021 in the plenary courtroom.

Based on the population data of the first semester of 2020 by the Home Ministry’s Directorate General of Population and Civil Registry, the city’s population was 101,372 so the vote margin between the Petitioner and the candidate pair with the most votes was 2% of the total valid votes resulted from the final tabulation certified by the region’s KPU. This vote margin should be no more than 2% of the 55,953 total valid votes, or 1,119 votes.

The Petitioner earned 27,170 while Candidate Pair No. 1 Ahmadi Zubi-Alvia Santoni won the election with 28,783 votes, resulting in a margin of 1,613 votes. Therefore, the vote margin threshold set by Article 158 paragraph (2) letter c of Law No. 10 of 2016 was not met.

“Based on the abovementioned legal considerations, the Court believes that although the Petitioner was a candidate pair in the 2020 Sungai Penuh City mayoral election, they didn’t meet the legal standing requirement to file the petition as set in Article 158 paragraph (2) of Law No. 10 of 2016. Therefore, the Court holds that the Petitioner didn’t have the legal standing to file the a quo petition,” said Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto reading out the Court’s legal considerations.

Also read:

Governor Election Result Dispute of Jambi: Slight Difference in the Votes 

Jambi KPU and Sungai Penuh KPU Oppose Petition Proposition

The Candidate Pair No. 2 of the 2020 Sungai Penuh City mayoral election suggested that based on the city’s General Elections Commission’s (KPU) certification, they earned the second most votes of 27,170. They believed the vote acquisition in the city’s election shouldn’t have been certified because the Petitioner should’ve participated in the election as the only candidate pair. This is because until the election application deadline on September 6, 2020 at 24:00 WIB only the Petitioner registered, with an official nomination by ten political parties and 24 seats.

The Petitioner believed the city’s election were rife with violations, whose—according to the Petitioner—legal process is still ongoing and could affect the election’s outcome. The Petitioner believed that two political parties, who on September 6 had backed the Petitioner, had instead supported another candidate pair, whose application was received by the Respondent on September 13, 2020. The Petitioner alleged that this was a violation of the application requirements.

Writer: Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor: Nur R.
Uploader: Nur Budiman

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

Translation uploaded on 02/17/2021 14:30 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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