A ruling hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute for West Papua Province, Tuesday (5/21/2024) in the plenary courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) decided to dismiss the petition by DPR candidate Sius Dowansiba from the National Awakening Party (PKB) for the electoral district of Papua. The ruling hearing for Decree No. 117-02-01-34/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 on the 2024 DPR/DPRD (House of Representatives/Regional Legislative Council) election results dispute was held on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in the plenary courtroom.

Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra read out the Court’s legal reasoning highlighting the Petitioner’s legal standing. The Court had difficulty determining whether the petition was filed by an individual candidate or by PKB. The petition described it was filed by PKB, but the description of the legal standing explained that the petitioner was an individual DPR candidate who had received approval from the chairman and secretary-general of PKB to submit a case to the Court.

After examining carefully, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi continued, the power of attorney was not made by a political party but made by an individual. In addition, the Court also did not find a letter of approval or recommendation as intended as a formal requirement for submitting a election results dispute petition to the Court.

With these facts, the Petitioner’s petition was difficult to understand because it confused the legal standing of a political party with that of an individual. So, there was no doubt for the Court to declare the Petitioner’s legal standing unclear or obscure. The juridical consequence is that the Petitioner’s petition was unclear or obscure.

“[The Court] adjudicate, relating to the Respondent’s and Relevant Party’s (NasDem) objections: to grant the objections regarding the Petitioner’s legal standing; relating to the subject matter: to declare the Petitioner’s petition inadmissible,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo reading out the verdict of this case.

Also read:

PKB Candidate Reveals the Election Violations with Noken System in Bintuni Bay, West Papua

KPU Responds to Allegations of Noken System Election Violations in Teluk Bintuni of West Papua

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner’s legal counsel Heriyanto said that there were still polling stations that conducted elections using the noken system or by agreement. He continued that the election in Bintuni Bay should have used direct voting as stated in the General Elections Commission (KPU) Decree No. 66 of 2024 on guidelines for the implementation of voting with the noken/ikat system in Papua Province in the 2024 general election. Furthermore, he said, the implementation of the noken system was exacerbated by the election organizers’ action of the manipulation of the D-result form on recapitulation. Therefore, in one of the petitums, the Petitioner requested that the Court order the Respondent (KPU) to conduct a revote of the DPR election in the entire district (280 polling stations) in Teluk Bintuni Regency based on the corrected permanent voter list.

Author              : Sri Pujianti.
Editor               : Nur R.
Translator         : Frity Michael Br Sembiring, 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.

---