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Thursday, March 18, 2021 | 16:52 WIB

Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh reading out the Court’s legal considerations at the ruling hearing of Bandung regent election dispute, Thursday (18/3/2021) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Teguh. 

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) held two ruling hearings for 10 regional election (pilkada) results dispute cases of 2020 on Thursday morning to afternoon, March 18, 2021. One of the ruling passed was Decision No. 46/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 for the 2020 Bandung regent election, filed by Candidate Pair No. 1 Kurnia Agustina-Usman Sayogi JB (Kurnia-Usman). The Court rendered the petition inadmissible.

“[The Court] declares the Petitioner’s petition inadmissible,” said plenary chair Chief Justice Anwar Usman reading out the ruling alongside the other eight constitutional justices, in a virtual hearing from the plenary courtroom. 

Also read: MK Examines the Regional Election Disputes of Bandung, Pangandaran, and Tasikmalaya

In its legal considerations, the Court stated that it had no authority over the petition, so that the Respondent’s objection to the Court’s authority was legally groundless. However, the Court deemed the petition submitted within the deadline set by statutory laws and regulations.

“The Relevant Party’s objection that the Petitioner’s petition had passed the deadline to file a petition as set by statutory laws and regulations was legally groundless,” said Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh reading out the legal considerations.

Also read: General Elections Commission (KPU) of Bandung, Pangandaran, and Tasikmalaya Respond the Election Dispute

He further said that the Petitioner alleged that the Relevant Party had committed vote buying or “money politics” practice by promising local community money in exchange for votes. This promise was stated in their vision and mission. The Court observed, based on the facts discovered in the hearings, that the Relevant Party expressed their vision and mission during their campaign. One of them was the distribution of farmers cards, entrepreneurship cards, and Quran reading teacher cards, which the Petitioner alleged. However, the court proceedings didn’t discover sufficient evidence to suggest that the Relevant Party’s vision and mission were related to vote buying.

“The evidence presented in the hearings, such as farmers cards, entrepreneurship cards, and Quran reading teacher cards, were obscure and couldn’t prove that those cards can be converted into cash. The implementation of such programs must receive approval by the Regional Representatives Council (DPD),” Justice Foekh added.

Also read: Bandung Regency Elections Dispute: The Court Examines the Witnesses Statement

The Court said that the alleged distribution of staple foods by the Relevant Party in their campaign was case-by-case and wasn’t proven to be part of structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violation that could have significantly affected vote acquisition. The Court also said the issue had been settled by the subdistrict election committee (PPK) after it was forwarded to the Paseh precinct police. This was supported by the regency’s Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), who declared that they didn’t receive any report of such TSM vote buying practice. The regency’s Bawaslu only received a report forwarded by the West Java Bawaslu and the Central Bawaslu. Those reports were already processed following procedure regarding election crimes, with the results showing that the reported violations didn’t meet the formal criteria of election crimes, and were thus dismissed.

Writer: Siti Rosmalina Nurhayati
Editor: Nur R.
Uploader: Rudi

Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti
Editor: NL
Managing Editor: Budi Wijayanto

Translation uploaded on 3/19/2021 11:32 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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