Muhammad Alhamid testifying as an expert for Bawaslu at a presidential election results disputes hearing, Wednesday (4/3/2024). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — Former chairman of the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) of 2012-2017 Muhammad Alhamid was presented by Bawaslu as an expert at an evidentiary hearing on the 2024 presidential election results disputes (presidential PHPU) on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 to hear the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) response as the Respondent. Alhamid emphasized that Bawaslu serves as the main access for reporting alleged election violations.
“All suspicions of election violations must be reported through Bawaslu,” Alhamid said before Chief Justice Suhartoyo and seven other constitutional justices in the plenary courtroom of the Constitutional Court (MK) in Jakarta. This hearing was for cases N No. 1/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024 and No. 2/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024.
Alhamid explained that election violations are actions that contradict, violate, or are not in accordance with the laws and regulations governing elections. Election violations encompass a spectrum of infractions from procedural and administrative breaches to organized, systematic, and widespread (TSM) administrative violations; as well as criminal offenses against electoral laws and codes of ethics, including breaches of the oath taken by election organizers.
Reporting Mechanism
Alhamid further elaborated that the management of election violations relies on both findings and reports. Bawaslu is responsible for managing findings, which are derived from the supervision outcomes by election supervisors and/or investigation results. It then publicizes of the management of those reports to voters, election participants, and election monitors who filed those reports.
Additionally, Alhamid highlighted that reports must be submitted within seven days of the discovery of the alleged election violations. Following the submission of a report, Bawaslu conducts an initial study within two days to assess the report’s compliance with formal and material requirements, as well as the nature of the alleged violation. Formal requirements encompass essential details such as the complainant’s name and address, the reported party. Meanwhile, material requirements entail specific information such as the time and location of the alleged violation, a detailed description thereof, and supporting evidence.
After the initial review, the findings are recorded in a register book and given a register number. Once recorded, the report is considered accepted. Even if the reporter withdraws the report later, the handling process continues. However, if the report doesn’t meet all the required details, it isn’t registered.
Alhamid acknowledged that some complainants, even after Bawaslu resolves their reports, may seek further legal recourse, such as appealing to the Constitutional Court. This could be due to dissatisfaction with the resolution or for other reasons. In such cases, Bawaslu cannot prevent them from pursuing their legal rights, as it is the prerogative of every citizen.
“For a single issue or type of report, the complainant may utilize multiple channels for resolution. Therefore, I cannot say that any issue that Bawaslu may have addressed cannot be challenged. However, it must firmly state that it has dealt with the issue. Ultimately, it’s up to citizens to decide whether to accept Bawaslu’s decision or pursue alternative avenues for resolution,” Alhamid explained.
Bawaslu’s Witnesses
Bawaslu also presented witnesses from Bawaslu at the central and regional levels. Bawaslu advisor Iji Jaelani explained a number of problems in the implementation of voting based on the Election Monitoring System (Siwaslu), which include double voting, voters who did not vote in their domicile, ballots mix-ups between electoral districts (dapil) at the polling stations (TPS), voter assistants not signing forms, officers at polling stations not explaining the procedure before voting started, DPT (permanent voters list) not being displayed, witnesses wearing attributes of the candidates, voters mobilization, witnesses not showing their appointment letter, marked ballots, verbal and nonverbal intimidation of voters and election organizers, voters not willing to show their resident identity card (KTP) or voting certificate (suket), and voters being prohibited from entering polling station because voting time had ended.
Iji also said that vote counting issues also happened, such as the Sirekap (recapitulation information system) not accessible due to unstable internet connection, vote count before the due time, number of valid votes not matching ballots, invalid votes, number of voters, polling station supervisors not given the copies of C-result forms, public not being able to oversee the vote count, and intimidation against election organizers and voters. He asserted that through election supervisors, Bawaslu had made improvements in the field and provided inputs and recommendations on alleged violations.
“From the Siwaslu data, the supervision results show that there were thirteen voting issues and six vote counting issues,” Iji said.
Next, DKI Jakarta Bawaslu member Sakhroji talked about the united villages declaration in November 2023, which vice-presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka attended. He asserted that the village chiefs and apparatuses attending the event had violated Articles 29 and 51 of Law No. 6 of 2014 on Villages. He had warned the Indonesian Association of Village Administrations (APDESI) and other associations participating in the event. The DKI Bawaslu recommended that the Ministry of Home Affairs follow up this according to statutory laws and regulations.
Central Bawaslu chairman Rahmat Bagja added that the report of alleged criminal electoral violation lodged against vice-presidential candidate Gibran had not met material requirements. He said Gibran had not conducted any election campaign outside of the allotted time while attending the united villages declaration in the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
“The criminal element was reported by the complainant, not by us, [and the report] did not meet material requirements,” he said.
Sakhroji also revealed Gibran had handed out free milk during a car free day at Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Central Jakarta. The action, he claimed, was in violation of Article 7 paragraph (2) of the DKI Jakarta Governor Regulation (Pergub) No. 12 of 2016 on Motor Vehicle-Free Day (HBKB), which stipulates that such days cannot be used for any political events.
“So, we found a political event, not election campaign,” Sakhroji added.
Next, Central Java Bawaslu member Nur Kholiq said that his team had investigated an alleged election violation related to the lack of state civil apparatus (ASN) neutrality, especially the acting governor of Central Java, which was recorded in a video. However, Bawaslu did not find enough evidence that the case was an election crime.
“We investigated an alleged criminal violation by the acting governor of Central Java, but the results of investigation into the evidence and information that we believe had electoral criminal elements showed that there was insufficient evidence, so the report was not registered as a report of alleged election crime,” Kholiq said.
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The Constitutional Court is hearing 2024 presidential election results disputes. It has received petitions from Presidential Ticket 01 Anies Rasyid Baswedan-A. Muhaimin Iskandar and Presidential Ticket 03 Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD. The petitions were registered as cases No. 1/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024 for Anies-Muhaimin and No. 2/PHPU.PRES-XXII/2024 for Ganjar-Mahfud.
Author : Mimi Kartika
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator : Fuad Subhan, Yuniar Widiastuti (RA)
Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.
Wednesday, April 03, 2024 | 17:47 WIB 250