Witnesses & Experts Testify on Damaged Ballots in Cirebon

Witnesses were sworn in to give testimony in the PHPU Legislative case of West Java Province in 2024 on Monday, May 27, 2024, in Panel 1 Courtroom of the Constitutional Court Building. (Photo by MKRI/Ifa)

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Numerous witnesses and experts were present during a follow-up hearing of the 2024 legislative election results dispute concerning Cirebon 2. Case No 74-01-12-12/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was filed by the National Mandate Party (PAN).

In the hearing presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo, Nurdin, a witness from PAN, testified about damaged ballots during recapitulation in Panjunan, Lemahwungkuk District, Cirebon.

"At that time, there were zero votes on the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) C1 Plano form, but the KPPS (polling station working committee) Chair's C1 form had one vote, leading to complaints from the Democrat witness followed by others. The KPPS Chair responded that it had just been recorded on the KPPS PSI C1 Plano," Nurdin explained in the hearing held on Monday, May 27, 2024, in the Court's Plenary Room.

According to Nurdin, the witnesses agreed to open the ballot box. Upon opening, it contained three votes for PSI and also revealed four valid damaged ballots for PAN and the Great Movement Party (Gerindra), Nurdin disclosed.

He affirmed filing a complaint with the PPK (Subdistrict Election Committee) officials who then marked the ballots with a blue marker. "I also reported this to the witness coordinator," Nurdin stated clearly.

Vote Margin

Also present was Rahmat Sapi'i, a Panwascam at the time, who described events at polling station (TPS) 62 in Pegambiran. At that point, the vote count at the PPK level for presidential, DPD, DPRI, and provincial DPRD votes totaled 217, but only 216 were deemed valid.

"There was a discrepancy of one vote, which should have equaled 217. I questioned the KPPS Chair at the time, who mentioned a DPK vote of one. I also asked to photograph the DPK's ID card, and the KPPS Chair showed a photo of the individual's ID card, who was a local resident. I questioned why he was given four ballot papers, and the KPPS Chair stated that according to the online DPT, he was registered in Indramayu, although his ID clearly showed he was a local," Rahmat explained.

Rahmat mentioned that when the Cirebon City KPUD Chairperson arrived, a meeting was held inside the district. "The Cirebon City KPUD Chairperson asked for an explanation from the KPPS that there was one DPK but four ballots were issued. The course taken by the Cirebon City KPUD Chairperson was to add one to the non-valid vote column to sync in Sirekap," he asserted.

Angga Permana, a former member of KPS TPS 62 in Pegambiran, also testified about three torn ballots at TPS 62 in Pegambiran.

"So, I opened a torn Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) ballot, there was also a PAN ballot torn at the fold, and a large tear on Gerindra ballot. I reported that these were actually valid but were considered invalid," Angga revealed.

Respondent's Witness Testimony

Meanwhile, Respondent Witness, Mardeko, as the Chair of the Cirebon City KPU, explained he was asked by the PPK to resolve a vote discrepancy of one. "To resolve this, I invited the Panwascam and the present witnesses for a discussion to settle the issue. The used ballots had to match the number of votes present. If one component did not match, then the totals could not be calculated in SIREKAP. From what the KPPS asked, there was an event. Normally, five ballots should have been given, namely for the City DPRD. So, there were attempts to call and the ballots had been prepared by the KPPS Chair, but after three calls and no shows, there were efforts made. This needed to be resolved so the recap could proceed. The way to resolve it had to be through discussion among the witnesses," Mardeko detailed.

Mardeko added that no vote recount was conducted due to the absence of discrepancies and objections from witnesses. Subsequently, Eulis Komariyah, also a Respondent Witness and Chair of KPPS 62, responded to the testimony about the DPK. She stated Ahmad Sulam arrived with an ID but no notification letter.

"Because he wasn't listed in the DPT, we checked the online DPT and found he was registered in Indramayu DPT so he was given four ballots. He wasn't given the City DPRD ballot," Eulis firmly stated.

Regarding the torn ballots, Eulis explained that an agreement with the witnesses led to them being deemed invalid. "There were no objections from the witnesses," she said.

Salah Rifki Arya Saputra, a witness from the Democratic Party. "Before the vote counting began, it was agreed that any torn ballots would be declared invalid," Rifki clarified. According to him, there were no objections from the witnesses because an agreement had already been reached.

Similarly, a witness from the Relevant Party, PKS, named Adi Nugraha stated that there were no objections from the witnesses. Thus, all issues were resolved, and all witnesses ultimately signed the official report.

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Witnesses & Experts Testify on Damaged Ballots in Cirebon