A ruling hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of Banten Province, Monday (5/27/2024) on panel 1. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Former constitutional justice for 2003-2008, Maruarar Siahaan, testified as the expert for the Relevant Party (PDI-P) for Case No. 183-01-14-16/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 concerning the legislative election results dispute (PHPU) for DPR members for the electoral district of Banten II, petitioned by the Democratic Party. Siahaan stated that in preparing the petition, the Democratic Party did not comply with the provisions contained in the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) concerning procedural law in election results dispute cases.

“The formulation in the Constitutional Court Regulation is very clear and that is what we must use. So the technical guideline that the Court has regulated and disseminate to advocates through workshops should be followed and we must not deviate from it,” he said in front of Chief Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on Monday, May 27, 2024 in the plenary courtroom.

Siahaan said that the Petitioner was inconsistent with technical regulations, both of the Election Law and the Constitutional Court Regulation. He found something odd about the petition, that the Petitioner mentioned dispute over the results of the DPR election for the electoral district of Aceh II when it actually questions the DPR election results for Banten II. The writing error occurred continuously until the petition was revised so, he stressed, the error became fatal.

Apart from that, he reminded that the object of the petition was the Respondent’s decision or the KPU decree regarding the vote results of the legislative election that affect the Petitioner. However, the Petitioner did not clearly explain the dispute over election results, starting from the source of the votes to its influence on the party’s seat acquisition in the electoral district in question.

“The calculation error did not affect the vote acquisition, but the seats, because [the Petitioner] is a party,” said Maruarar.

Wrong Posita

Law professor at Pakuan Bogor University Andi Muhammad Asrun also highlighted the issue. The Respondent’s (KPU) expert even noted that the posita mentions PDI-P’s votes, not the Democratic Party’s.

He also mentioned the petitum, which is presented twice in the petition. “The fatal mistake is not following the technical guidelines for the Court’s procedural law, where the petitum is mentioned twice. This violates the technical guidelines, procedural law, as the separate categories have different substances,” explained Andi.

Also read:

Democratic Party Alleges Vote Reduction in South Tangerang

KPU Denies Democrat’s Vote Count for Banten II DPR

Democrat’s DPRD Petition for Tangerang 1 Dismissed, for Banten II Proceeds

The Democratic Party has filed a petition to the Court for the DPR election for the electoral district of Banten II and for the DPRD election for the electoral district of Tangerang City 1 in Banten Province. However, in the ruling hearing last week, the Court stated that the Petitioner’s petition as it pertains to the vote acquisition of Tangerang City DPRD in Tangerang City 1 was inadmissible, while that of the DPR election for Banten II continues to the evidentiary hearing, which was held today.

Based on the KPU Decree No. 360 of 2024, the Democratic Party’s vote acquisition for the DPR seats in the electoral district of Banten 2 reached 142,279 votes, while that for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) reached 143,703 votes. The Petitioner stated that PDI-P’s vote tally should be reduced by 1,774 votes, bringing the total to 141,929 votes. Thus, the Democratic Party’s vote acquisition in Banten 2 for the DPR seat should be 142,279 votes, which was greater than votes for PDI-P, with a difference of 350 votes.

In its petitum, the Petitioner asks the Court to annul KPU Decree No. 360 of 2024 on the nationwide certification of the 2024 presidential and legislative election results. It also asked the Court to order the KPU to compare vote data from the C result forms with the D result forms specifically for PDI-P in the DPR election for Banten II at several polling stations in various subdistricts. Furthermore, the Petitioner also asks to make a recapitulation of the overall vote tally by combining the results of the vote tally at those polling stations and then create an overall vote recapitulation for the DPR member candidates in Banten II. The Petitioner asked the Court to determine that according to the Petitioner, the correct vote tally for PDI-P for the DPR election for Banten II in the 2024 election was 141,929 votes.

The Petitioner submitted different petitums for the two disputes. Apart from the petitum for the DPR election for Banten II, it also has a separate petitum for the DPRD election for Tangerang City 1.

Author              : Mimi Kartika
Editor                : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                    : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator         : Sedanti Anjali Putri, 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.

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