The Respondent (General Elections Commission, KPU), accompanied by legal counsel, attending the hearing for Case No. 232-02-01-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of Province/Regency. The agenda included listening to the Respondent's response and statements from the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) on Monday (13/5/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a continuation of the hearing for the 2024 General Election Results Dispute for Members of the House of Representatives and Regional Legislative Councils (PHPU DPR). Case No 232-02-01-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was filed by Soderi Tario, a candidate for the Regional Legislative Council of Ogan Komering Ulu Regency, Electoral District 2, from the National Awakening Party (PKB), candidate number 1.
The session for this case was presided over by Panel 3–Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih to hear the Respondent’s response and Bawaslu’s statement, on Monday, May 13 2024. The agenda of the hearing included listening to the response of the Respondent (KPU), statements from the Relevant Party, and the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), as well as the verification of evidence.
In their response, KPU (Respondent) stated that the Petitioner does not have the legal standing to file an election dispute petition for the 2024 Ogan Komering Ulu Regency Legislative Council election in Electoral District 2, according to statutory regulations. This is because the Petitioner failed to include written approval from the chairman and secretary-general or other equivalent officials of the relevant political party, in this case, the approval of the Chairman and Secretary-General of PKB. Furthermore, the Respondent argued that the Petitioner is not the appropriate party to file the petition, as the issue concerns the votes of the political party, not the Petitioner's personal votes. Therefore, according to the Respondent, it should be PKB that files the petition, as stipulated in Article 3(a) of Constitutional Court Regulation PMK 2/2023.
"The Petitioner's application in question is unclear or constitutes an obscuur libel. This arises from the confusion about the intent regarding the 5 members of the KPPS of Ulu Ogan Subdistrict because KPPS operates at the polling station (TPS) level, whereas at the subdistrict level, it is the PPK as stated in the petition," said the Respondent's legal counsel, Juanita Bil.
Furthermore, the application in question is unclear/vague due to the matter concerning uncorrected ballots, as the concept of 'corrected ballots' is not recognized in the execution of general elections. The Respondent reiterated that the Petitioner's application is unclear/vague because it fails to specify the subdistrict of the disputed general election, given that Ogan Komering Ulu 2 encompasses the Subdistricts of Sosoh Buay Rayap, Pengandonan, Ulu Ogan, Semidang Aji, Lengkiti, and Muara Jaya.
The Respondent then detailed the core issue of the petition, asserting that based on the D Results of the Ulu Ogan Subdistrict Council, it is clarified that Ulu Ogan Subdistrict comprises 7 villages with a total of 6,462 eligible male and female voters. Out of these, 5,210 male and female voters exercised their voting rights (used electoral rights), 5 male and female voters were regular electoral rights users, and 2 were special electoral rights users, totaling 5,217 votes.
Regarding the recapitulation, the Model D Results of the Ulu Ogan Subdistrict Council Electoral District 2 were signed by the witnesses of the National Awakening Party present at the recapitulation meeting of the vote count at the Ogan Komering Ulu regency/city level. After the recapitulation process, the Respondent's votes were in accordance with the D Results of the Ulu Ogan Subdistrict Council attached with the Model Ulu Ogan Subdistrict Council, thus any claims of discrepancies by the Petitioner are merely unfounded assumptions.
Misplaced Venue
M. Ibrahim Adha, acting as the counsel for the Relevant Party, explained that the vote count for the Petitioner in Ogan Komering Ilir Regency, Electoral District II, including the Subdistricts of Sosoh Buay Rayap, Pengandonan, Semidang Aji, Lengkiti, and Muara Jaya, was appropriate and not contested by the Petitioner. According to the Petitioner's assertions, the Petitioner has incorrectly identified the venue (locus) in their application, rendering the application in question unclear and vague.
Bawaslu
In its statements, Bawaslu explained a special incident, an alleged election violation report with No 002/LP/PL/Kab/06.13/II/2024 dated February 25, 2024. The follow-up on this report was declared to meet formal and material requirements, classified as an election violation and a breach of the election organizers' code of ethics.
Subsequently, Bawaslu conducted a series of witness examinations and evidence evaluations, leading the Ogan Komering Ulu Regency Bawaslu to discontinue handling the violation due to incomplete evidence presented.
Another alleged violation involved an election violation report with Number 003/LP/PL/Kab/06.13/II/2024 dated February 26, 2024. The follow-up on this report was declared to meet formal requirements but failed to meet material requirements, as the issue and substance of the report had been previously addressed by Bawaslu OKU. Subsequently, Bawaslu OKU issued a Notification of the report status on February 27, 2024.
Additionally, regarding the alleged election violation report with No 004/LP/PL/Kab/06.13/II/2024 dated February 26, 2024, the follow-up was declared to meet formal requirements but not material requirements, as the issue and substance of the report had been previously addressed by Bawaslu OKU. Following this, Bawaslu OKU issued a Notification of the report status on February 27, 2024.
Also read :
PKB Candidate Asks KPU Decree Reviewed, Alleges Vote Shift
Author :Siti Rosmalina Nurhayati.
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator : Gabrielle K.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.
Monday, May 13, 2024 | 22:50 WIB 96