The Petitioner’s legal counsel accompanying the Petitioner’s witnesses to provide a testimony in case No. 153-16-01-22-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 on the 2024 legislative election results dispute in Aceh Province, Tuesday (5/28/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a follow-up hearing on the legislative election results dispute (PHPU) for the 2024 DPR-DPRD (House of Representatives-Regional Legislative Council) election results dispute on Tuesday May 28, 2024. The hearing for case No. 16-01-22-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024, petitioned by the Adil Sejahtera Aceh Party (PAS Aceh), was presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih on Panel 3.
The session was to hear witness/expert testimonies and examine and verify additional evidence. The hearing was attended by the Petitioner (PAS Aceh), the Respondent (General Elections Commission/KPU), the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body).
PAS Aceh’s Witnesses
The witness presented by the Petitioner (PAS Aceh), Agus Dian Purnama, is the coordinator of PAS Aceh witnesses in East Aceh Regency. During the election, he was assigned to multiple subdistricts, including East Pereulak, Idi Rayeuk, Madat, and Pante Bidari, to ensure that witnesses performed their duties well.
“On February 25, while on duty in East Pereulak Subdistrict, I accompanied Ramadhan, the witness for the subdistrict plenary process,” he explained. “Around 11 PM to midnight, he contacted me about discrepancy in the regency D-result form printed by subdistrict election committee (PPK) of East Pereulak,” he added.
According to witness Ramadhan, the discrepancy was due to the inconsistency between the C-result form and D-result form for Gerindra (Great Movement Party). Gerindra received 444 votes on the C-result form but 1,008 votes on the D-result form, with an increase by 564 votes. Meanwhile, PAS Aceh’s votes remained consistent at 2,163 in both forms. This discrepancy significantly harmed PAS Aceh, as similar patterns were observed in other subdistricts, leading to a large vote change in East Aceh Regency.
“When the irregularity occurred, Ramadhan filed a complaint with the East Pereulak Panwascam (subdistrict election supervisory committee), reporting the discrepancy in Gerindra’s vote count between the C-result and D-result forms,” Agus continued.
At the hearing, it was revealed that Panwascam recommended a correction, but it was not implemented, so Gerindra’s vote count remained unchanged on the D-result form. On March 19, 2024, ballot boxes were opened at East Aceh KIP (Independent Election Commission) to collect evidence for this case, which Agus questioned.
His testimony was responded to by Mirza, a KPU representative. Mirza explained that the opening of the ballot boxes for collecting evidence is regulated in Article 109 paragraph 3 of KPU Regulation No. 5 of 2024. Additionally, the East Aceh KPU received a letter from the Central KPU, which stated that the opening of the recapitulation ballot boxes should be done openly, coordinated with Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) and the Police, and witnessed by election participants.
The next witness for the Petitioner, Taufik Hidayat, a PAS Aceh witness in West Pereulak Subdistrict, explained that the recapitulation numbers matched PAS Aceh’s records from the first to the sixth plenary day. However, on the seventh and final day, the vote counts suddenly changed, as described by Agus.
Rahmayudin, PAS Aceh election campaign team, testified about an incident involving the opening of a truck requested by the KPU. According to PAS Aceh, several irregularities occurred. He noted that the DPRA boxes, initially totaling 10 from 10 subdistricts, were reduced to only 3.
Bawaslu Witness’ Testimony
Meanwhile, Muhammad Ali from Bawaslu testified that the elections supervisory committee had received and examined the C-Result forms from all polling stations. The C-copy form showed that Gerindra had 444 votes, but the subdistrict D-Result form showed 1,008 votes. There were 44 polling stations in 20 villages in East Pereulak. Due to this discrepancy, the subdistrict election supervisory committee recommended a correction, asking the PPK to align the D-Result form with the C-Result form. However, the PPK did not implement this order, and on the D-Result the votes remained at 1,008.
A similar situation occurred in West Pereulak, where from 47 polling stations in 15 villages, Gerindra’s votes in the C-result form were 180, but on the D-Result form it became 1,204. After careful examination, the subdistrict election supervisory committee requested a correction, which was not implemented.
In Rantau Pereulak Subdistrict, there were 74 polling stations across 23 villages. Gerindra’s votes increased from 776 in the C-result form to 1,791 in the D-result form. Similar to West and East Perulak, the order for correction was not heeded.
In Peunaron Subdistrict, there were 25 polling stations across 5 villages. Gerindra’s votes increased from 1,565 in the C-result form to 2,986 in the D-result form.
At the preliminary meeting, Bawaslu suggested corrections to the East Aceh KIP, who then instructed the PPK to make corrections, with copies sent to Bawaslu. However, at the regency level, these results have not been corrected to date.
KPU Witnesses’ Testimonies
At this hearing, the Respondent (KPU) presented PPK representatives from each region directly. Yusri, a PPK from East Pereulak, responded to the Petitioner’s witness testimony, stating that the correction process in East Pereulak had been carried out. However, he explained that when PPK requested data from the Petitioner to compare, the Petitioner could not provide it.
Yusri clarified that the elections supervisory committee’s suggestion for correction were not detailed. Additionally, the Aceh KIP corrected the results to align with the D-Result form, as per East Aceh committees’s recommendations, rather than the C-Result form.
Also read:
PAS Aceh Accused Gerindra of Vote Inflation
KPU Denies PAS Aceh’s Allegation of Gerindra’s Vote Inflation
Author : Siti Rosmalina Nurhayatii
Editor : Nur R.
Translator : Dzaki Difa Al Hadiid/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.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024 | 17:52 WIB 71