Bawaslu attending a follow-up hearing for the 2024 legislative election result dispute of Sorong 1, Wednesday (5/8/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) — KPPS (polling station working committee) chairperson at TPS (polling station) 7 and one KPPS member at TPS 18 of Malawele Village being members of and legislative candidates from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) did not affect the vote acquisition of the National Democratic Party (NasDem).

This was conveyed by the General Elections Commission’s (KPU) legal counsel Matheus Mamun Sare at a follow-up hearing for case No. 133-01-05-38/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. The hearing for the case filed by Nasdem was presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih.

“It is not true that the chairman of the KPPS at TPS 7 of Malawele Village, Aimas District, Sorong Regency, and one of the KPPS members at TPS 18 of Malawele Village, Aimas District, Sorong Regency being members of a political party and also a legislative candidate from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) affected the Petitioner’s votes,” said Matheus.

Furthermore, he said there was no vote shift that was detrimental to NasDem at TPS 7 and 18 of Malawele Village, Aimas District. According to him, the vote counting at TPS 7 and 18 had been carried out in accordance with applicable regulations and there were no objections from the political parties present. In addition, the KPU as Respondent had also never received a recommendation from the Sorong Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) relating to this application.

The Respondent requests the Court to accept and grant all of its exceptions, reject the Petitioner’s entire petition, and declare the KPU Decree No. 360 of 2024 valid.

Meanwhile, Bawaslu testified that they had received a report from NasDem in Sorong Regency. Bawaslu followed it up by issuing a recommendation to KPPS 07, which included violations of the election organizer’s code of ethics and the dismissal of KPPS 07. For TPS 18, Bawaslu followed up with a recommendation for a revote. According to Bawaslu, NasDem had 1,280 votes, while PKS obtained 1,344 votes. “NasDem (obtained) 1,280 votes and PKS (obtained) 1,344 votes based on the final recapitulation,” said Bawaslu representative Farli Sampetoding Rego.

Also read:  Sorong 1 KPPS Allegedly Doubles as Candidate

Besides the KPU and Bawaslu, PKS as the Relevant Party also testified. “The Relevant Party’s 239 votes and the addition of 12 votes for the Petitioner are false because they are not based on the Petitioner’s evidence as material for comparing the margin. Furthermore, the Petitioner’s petition does not explain the basis for the comparison of votes according to the Respondent and the Petitioner. The Petitioner does not compare the regency/city DRPD C-result copies,” said Riki Sambora, the Relevant Party’s legal counsel.

The Relevant Party said that the allegation that the KPPS chairman at TPS 7 of Malawele Village, as well as one of the KPPS members at TPS 18 of Malawele Village being PKS members and legislative candidates was an invalid reason to cancel the votes that had been certified by the Respondent.

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner argued that there was a difference in the number of votes between the NasDem and PKS according to the Petitioner and the Respondent in the electoral district of Sorong 1. According to the Petitioner, NasDem should have received 1,268 votes, but the Respondent certified the number as 1,280 votes. As for PKS, according to the Petitioner, the number of votes should be 1,105, but the Respondent certified it as 1,344 votes.

The Petitioner also argued that there was a violation because the KPPS chairman at TPS 7 and one of the KPPS members at TPS 18, both located in Malawele Village, Aimas District, Sorong Regency, were members of a political party and also legislative candidates from PKS.

The Petitioner requests the Court to cancel the KPU Decree No. 360 of 2024 and certify the vote acquisition results according to the Petitioner’s version, or order the Respondent to conduct a revote.

Author              : Adam Ilyas
Editor               : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                    : Tiara Agustina
Translator         : Putri Ratnasari, Yuniar W.

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.

---