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Wednesday, May 19, 2021 | 15:22 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing of the South Labuhanbatu regent election results dispute on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. The case No. 142/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021 was filed by Candidate Pair No. 3 Hasnah Harahap-Kholil Jufri Harahap (Hasnah-Kholil). The hearing was presided over by Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo (panel chair), Wahiduddin Adams, and Manahan M. P. Sitompul.

Attorney Prismadani, who represented the Petitioner, explained a revote at 16 polling stations (TPS) in South Labuhanbatu Regency, which was Court-ordered in the Decision No. 37/PHP.BUP-XIX/2021. Based on the recapitulation results, the General Elections Commission (KPU) as the Respondent certified that the Petitioner had earned 65,422 votes and Candidate Pair No. 2 (election victor) 65,793 votes. The Petitioner believes their rival’s votes stood at 65,051.

The Petitioner believes that the high number of votes for Candidate Pair No. 2 was due to organized, significant influences outside the official organizers of the election that affected the revote on the premises of PT Torganda’s oil palm plantation.

They also asserted that a witness had testified about a video that shows Candidate Pair No. 2 campaigning among the community around the plantation in order to win all the votes at PT Torganda. In addition, the pair had a connection with the owner of the company. The company leadership and staff members’ presence during the revote was seen as a move to direct voters to vote for Candidate Pair No. 2.

After the Petitioner’s attorney conveyed the petition’s arguments, the Court approved the evidence that the Petitioner had submitted. “That’s it for today’s hearing. The Court will schedule a follow-up hearing [to take place] on Friday, May 21, 2021 to hear the Respondent’s response, the statements of the Relevant Party and Bawaslu [(the Elections Supervisory Body)],” said Justice Suhartoyo.

Also read:

MK Holds the Preliminary Session of Regent Election Dispute of Labuhanbatu, South Labuhanbatu, and Asahan

General Election Commission (KPU) of Labuhanbatu and South Labuhanbatu Response in MK Court Hearing

South Labuhanbatu: Intimidation, Problematic DPT, to Vote Buying

Court Orders South Labuhanbatu KPU to Hold a Revote at 16 Polling Stations 

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti
Editor        : R. A. Indah Apriyanti

Translation uploaded on 5/20/2021 09:39 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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