The witnesses being sworn in to give testimonies on the 2024 Legislative Election Dispute (PHPU) for member of DPR (House of Representatives), Provincial and Regency/District DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) of South Kalimantan Province on Monday (05/29) in Panel 1 Courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) —— The Constitutional Court (MK) held a follow-up examination hearing on the DPR (House of Representatives) Election Dispute (PHPU) of Electoral District (Dapil) South Kalimantan I. The Petition of Case No. 196-01-03-22/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was filed by the Democratic Party. The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo, accompanied by Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and  M. Guntur Hamzah. It was held in Panel I Plenary Courtroom on Monday, May 29, 2024.

During the hearing, the Chairperson of Panwascam (subdistrict election supervisory committee) Kertak Hanyar, Abruri Rispandi, testified as a witness for the Petitioner. Abruri explained the vote margin for PAN (National Mandate Party) in the Kertak Hanyar District, Banjar Regency, South Kalimantan.

"On March 4, 2024, we became aware of a discrepancy between the C Form Result District and the D Form Result District. The votes in the D Form Result District had changed to 4,018 votes. In response, we consulted with one of the Commissioners of Banjar Regency and issued a recommendation to rectify the situation in accordance with the C Form Result District. The following day, we were asked to withdraw the recommendation letter as the matter would be continued at the Regency level for further counting," said Abruri. He noted that when it reached the Regency level, no further action was taken on this matter.

Meanwhile, Saidinor, a cadre of the Democratic Party, mentioned an increase in votes for PAN at 555 polling stations (TPS), with a total increase of 6,066 votes. "We compared the totals and there was a clear discrepancy," stated Saidinor.

In this hearing, the Panel of Court Justices also listened to the testimonies from the Respondent's witnesses, including Suprat who stated that the recapitulation at the district level of Cintapuri Darusalam proceeded smoothly and safely. ‘'The votes from the Democratic Party’s Petitioner amounted to 48, and the votes from PAN amounted to 990,'’  said Suprat.

Meanwhile, another witness for the Respondent, Ahmadi, as the Chairperson of the Sub District Election Committee (PPK) of Aluh-Aluh, affirmed that the recapitulation at the district level was conducted smoothly, safely, and without objection from the witnesses. He revealed that witnesses from PAN as well as the Democratic Party signed the vote acquisition at the district level.

"The result from Bawaslu (Election Supervisory Agency) stated that the PPK of Aluh-Aluh did not commit any administrative violations. At the national level of Bawaslu, there were also no administrative violations found in the Aluh-Aluh District," he said.

The Petitioner also presented an expert in Graphology and Hypno Forensics, Novriza Hendri. He explained that signatures can be identified as forged if they have different stroke patterns.

"For example, during a specific incident where manipulation versus non-manipulation occurs, there are very noticeable differences in the strokes," said Novriza. According to him, the act of manipulating the election vote acquisition forms occurred in seven districts.

Meanwhile, the Relevant Party’s expert, M. Hadin, is a lecturer in Constitutional Law and Public Administration. He asserted that within the formal judicial system, every decision at a certain level of the court provides legal remedies if there are objections to the decision for correction and review by a higher court within a certain time limit.

Also read: 

Democratic Party Claims Vote Inflation for PAN in South Kalimantan I

KPU: Recording Errors in South Kalimantan I Corrected

Previously, in their petition, the Democratic Party questioned the deduction of one vote for the Petitioner and the inflation of 6,066 votes for PAN in Dapil South Kalimantan I for the acquisition of seats in DPR. There was an addition of 6,066 votes for PAN. Conversely, there was a deduction of 1 (one) vote for the Petitioner (Democratic Party). The difference in votes between the Respondent's and the Petitioner’s versions is due to the addition of votes that occurred in 7 (seven) districts in Banjar Regency and 1 (one) district in Barito Kuala Regency, favoring PAN and disadvantaging the Democratic Party, thus affecting the Election Results on the allocation of DPR seats in Dapil South Kalimantan I.

Thus, in the petitum, the Petitioner has requested the annulment of KPU Decree No. 360 of 2024 for all electoral districts (Dapil) within South Kalimantan I. Furthermore, they requested that the Court stipulate the vote count for the Democratic Party in Dapil South Kalimantan I as 89,980 votes, and 88,536 votes for PAN.

Author: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.

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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