The Respondent’s legal counsel, Yuni Iswantoro at a follow-up hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of Central Sulawesi, Tuesday (5/14/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The General Elections Commission (KPU) stated that there was no reduction in the vote acquisition of the United Development Party (PPP) in electoral district (dapil) of Central Sulawesi by 5,958 votes. This was conveyed by Yuni Iswantoro representing the KPU (the Respondent) in a hearing presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih. The case No. 173-01-17-26/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was filed by the PPP related to the House of Representatives (DPR) election of Central Sulawesi.

"That the reduction of the Petitioner's votes in the Dapil Central Sulawesi by 5,958 votes is untrue and unreasonable according to the law," Yuni said in a hearing held in Panel 3, on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.

Furthermore, the KPU said that PPP did not mention the process by which the 5,958 votes of the PPP were transferred to the Indonesian Guard of Change Party (Garuda), neither the locus nor the tempus of the incident. In addition, it is not clear at which level of recapitulation the alleged vote transfer occurred, whether at the polling station, sub-district, district, provincial, or national/central level.

The KPU explained that the implementation of the plenary meeting at Central Sulawesi Provincial level was carried out from March 4 to 14, 2024, which was attended by witnesses of political parties and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) of Central Sulawesi Province. Witnesses from PPP also attended the plenary meeting and signed the Model D. Result form of the Provincial DPR election.

Then, the KPU added that during the recapitulation process at the sub-district/city and provincial level, there were no special incidents and/or objections from PPP witnesses to the Garuda's votes. This means that the PPP has actually accepted and has no objection over its vote acquisition. Until the plenary recapitulation at the central/national level conducted by the KPU for the Central Sulawesi DPR Election on March 15, 2024, in Jakarta, there were no special incidents and/or objections from PPP witnesses to the Garuda's votes. The results of the central/national level recapitulation for the Central Sulawesi DPR Election are in accordance with D. Result form of the Provincial-DPR.

For those responses, the KPU requests the Court to accept and grant all of the Respondent's exceptions, and in the main case reject all of the Petitioners' requests and declare the KPU Decree No. 360 of 2024 as valid.

Also read: Alleging Voice Transfers to Garuda in Central Sulawesi, PPP Goes to Court

Meanwhile, in the hearing, Bawaslu testified that based on the Supervision Report on the Recapitulation of Vote Acquisition Results at the Regency/City Level in Central Sulawesi Province, there were no Special Event Notes and/or Witness Objections submitted by the Witnesses of the PPP and/or the Garuda regarding the vote acquisition results in the DPR Election.

"Based on the Supervision Report on the Recapitulation of Vote Acquisition Results at the Regency/City Level in Central Sulawesi Province, there were no Special Event Notes and/or Witness Objections submitted by the Witnesses of the United Development Party (PPP) and/or the Indonesian Guard of Change Party (Garuda) regarding the results of the vote count in the DPR Election," said Nasrun, the Bawaslu’s representative.

According to the Bawaslu, the vote acquisition for the PPP was 28,346 votes, and for the Garuda was 6,094 votes, as determined by the Respondent.

Author: Adam Ilyas
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR: Tiara Agustina

Translator: Putri Ratnasari

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.

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