The witnesses solemnly took the oath at the Constitutional Court (MK) during the PHPU hearing for Legislative Candidates on Tuesday (28/5/2024). (Photo by MKRI/Teguh)

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another hearing for Case no. 36-01-13-01/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024  filed by the Crescent Star Party (PBB) on the Election Dispute (PHPU) for members of the Aceh Regional Legislative Council (DPRK) in Electoral District (Dapil) Simeulue 1. It was presided over by Panel 3 Justices chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, accompanied by Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih on Monday, May 28, 2024. The hearing with the agenda of evidence examination was attended by the petitioner (PBB), the Respondent (KPU (General Election Commission)), and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body).

PBB Witnesses

The petitioner (PBB) presented two witnesses at the hearing. The first witness, Sumardi, is the regional coordinator for Dapil 10 of the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) from PBB. During the election, Sumardi was assigned to East Simeulue, Aceh. In the hearing, Sumardi provided testimony regarding events at polling station (TPS) 002, Suka Karya.

 

"The election supervisory committee (Panwas) in the electoral district recommended re-voting (PSU) in several TPS, including TPS 002 Suka Karya. A letter to conduct re-voting was issued, among others, for TPS 04 Suak Buluh and TPS 002 Suka Karya. There were pros and cons when the letter was issued because some political parties disagreed with the re-voting decision. After a hearing, the KIP (Aceh Independent Election Commission) of Simeulue issued another letter stating that the re-voting at TPS 002 Suka Karya for the DPRK ballot was canceled. As a coordinator, I coordinated with the Simeulue PBB Branch Executive Board (DPC). It was found that there was a letter to postpone the re-voting from February 24 to February 25 for those TPS, except for the DPRK ballot at TPS 002, which was removed. However, it was the DPRK ballot that was PBB’s main concern," said Sumardi.

The second witness for the petitioner, Adi Saleh, is the Secretary of the Simeulue Aceh DPC of PBB and a legislative candidate in Dapil 1. Adi added information to the previous witness's testimony, stating that on February 18, 2024, the East Simeulue District Panwascam issued a recommendation for re-voting in seven TPS. Adi also confirmed the previous witness's statement that the KIP of Simeulue Regency issued a letter concerning the re-voting to be held on February 24, 2024. Adi further noted that there were maneuvers and threats related to the re-voting decision.

“The PBB DPC held a hearing with KIP of Simeulue Regency regarding the maneuvers and threats following the re-voting decision. The KIP stated that they would still conduct the re-voting as per the previous decision. However, in reality, the re-voting was conducted on February 25, 2024, not February 24, 2024, and the re-voting did not include TPS 002 Suka Karya for the DPRK ballot,” said Adi Saleh.

KPU Witnesses 

The respondent (KPU) in this hearing presented two witnesses who would provide testimony related to the disputed matter. The first witness, Rofi Irawan, a Polling Station Working Committee (KPPS) member at TPS 002 Suka Karya, stated during his testimony before the Panel of Justices that no issues were found during his time at TPS 002 Suka Karya. Regarding the re-voting, he no longer served as a KPPS member at the time.

The second witness for the respondent, Suhariyadi Fakhrizal, a former member of the Subdistrict Election Committee (PPK) in Simeulue, provided his account of the recapitulation process at the district level. "On February 16, 2024, we conducted a Plenary Recapitulation at the district level. Then, from February 16 to March 1, 2024, there were no further objections from witnesses or the Panwascam. Regarding the directive to conduct re-voting, it was indeed issued, and the re-voting took place on February 25, 2024, in East Simeulue District for TPS 002 Suak Buluh for one type of ballot paper, TPS 002 Suka Karya for four types of ballot papers, excluding the DPRK," said Suhariyadi.

Bawaslu

Bawaslu provided testimony regarding the implementation of the re-voting in this hearing. Bawaslu confirmed that the re-voting was conducted on February 25, 2024, and it is true that the re-voting at TPS 002 in Suka Karya Village did not include the DPRK ballot. The recommendation from Panwas was only for 4 types of ballots to undergo re-voting.

The recommendation letter from KIP initially did instruct PSU for 5 types of ballots at TPS 002. However, KIP later corrected that the PSU at TPS 002 in Suka Karya did not include the DPRK ballot.

Also read:

PBB Compete for Votes with Hanura in Simuelue 1 Electoral District

Author: Siti Rosmalina Nurhayati.

Editor: Nur R.

Translator: Naomi Andrea Zebua/Fuad Subhan

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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