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The Constitutional Court held an online ruling hearing session for Wakatobi Regent Election Result Dispute, Wednesday (17/02) in the courtroom. Photo: PR/ Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court— The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition filed by Ahrawi and Hardin Laomo regarding Wakatobi Regent Election Results Dispute. The decision No. 54/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 read by Chief Justice Anwar Usman accompanied by other Constitutional Justices in the ruling hearing on Wednesday (17/2/2021) at the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitution Court.

In the legal considerations read out by Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams, the Court responded to the Petitioner's argument regarding the the mismatch between the number of actual voters who use their rights, the number of valid and invalid votes, and the number of voters in the Final Coters List (DPT) who signed the Voters Attendance List at the Polling Stations (TPS), is not proven. Based on the results of supervision by Wakatobi Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), there were no reports of violations until the district level recapitulation process. In addition, regarding the money politics and goods being distributed to the public, Bawaslu did not find any violations of based on the first and second discussion at the Central Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu Center), Wakatobi Regency.

"Based on the legal considerations above, the Court is of the opinion that the a quo petition has no reason to violate the provisions of Article 158 of Law 10/2016 relating to the Petitioner's legal position as a formal requirement in filing a dispute over the election results to the Court. Therefore, there is no relevance in continuing the a quo petition at further hearing with an agenda of evidence examination," said Wahiduddin

Meanwhile, Wahiduddin said that the Petitioner had no legal standing. This is because the difference in votes between the Petitioner and the winning candidate is 2% of the 61,838 votes (total valid votes), namely 1,237 votes.

"The votes acquired by the Candidate Pair No. 1 (Petitioner) amounted to 29,901 votes, while the votes acquired by the Relevant Party amounted to 31,937 votes, so the difference between the votes acquired was 2,036 votes (3.3%) or more than 1,237 votes," he explained. Wahiduddin.

Based on the above legal considerations, the Court is of the opinion, even though the Petitioner is a candidate pair for Wakatobi Regent Election, the Petitioner did not fulfill the conditions for filing the petition as referred to in Article 158 Paragraph (2) Letter a Law 10/2016.

"Therefore, according to the Court, the Petitioner does not have the legal standing to file the a quo petition. Therefore, the Respondent's and Relevant Party's exception that stated the Petitioner has no legal standing is legally grounded, ” said Wahiduddin.

In the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner argued that several violations were committed by election organizer of Wakatobi Regent Elections, including structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations which were carried out in stages by Polling Satation Working Committee (KPPS), Polling Committee (PPS), Sub-district Election Committee (PPK), KPU, and Bawaslu of Wakatobi Regency, solely for the sake of increasing the number of votes for one of the candidate pair.

The Petitioner also questioned the Respondent's actions that were unable to account for the ballots of voters which were proven not fulfilling the requirements as well as intimidation and threats of violence to the Petitioners' supporters by the campaign team and/or supporters of the Relevant Party.

In their Petitum, the Petitioner asked the Court to grant the Petitioner's petition in its entirety and annul the Wakatobi KPU Decree No. 326/PL.02.6-Kpt/7407/KPU-Kab/XII/2020 concerning the Certification of Vote Count Result Recapitulation and ordered the Respondent to conduct a re-voting (PSU) in 8 Districts, 95 Villages and 240 TPS in Wakatobi Regency. (*)

 

 

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

Translator: SO
Editor: NL
Managing Editor: Budi Wijayanto

Translation uploaded on 02/18/2021 17.01WIB

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