The Petitioner’s Witness Emanuel B.D. Basagai testifying at a hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of South Papua Province, Wednesday (5/29/2024) on panel 1. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — A follow-up hearing on the 2024 election results dispute (PHPU) for the DPR (House of Representatives), Provincial DPRD/DPRP (Regional Legislative Council/Papuan People’s Representatives’ Council), and Regency/City DPRD/DPRK (Regency Legislative Council) of South Papua Province for the electoral district of South Papua 3 was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, in the plenary courtroom. The Case No. 264-01-04-35/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was filed by the Party of Functional Groups (Golkar).

At the hearing chaired by Chief Justice Suhartoyo, the Petitioner presented Emanuel B.D. Basagai as a witness. He revealed that as a witness for the National Mandate Party (PAN), he had noticed some irregularities.

“At that time before the plenary meeting, the Mappi Regency Bawaslu gave a recommendation on the recount of ballots in four districts: Obaa, Minyamur, Haju, and Passue,” he said.

He said the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) recommendation was issued on March 1. However, it was not followed up by the Mappi Regency General Elections Commission (KPU).

“So, at the Mappi KPU plenary meeting, the [Mappi] KPU chairman canceled the recommendation letter when it should have come out before the KPU meeting,” he explained.

Basagai added that the recapitulation process was not completed because it was postponed. However, the recommendation was followed up at the provincial plenary meeting for two districts. This means that the vote count had occurred at the provincial level for Haju District and Passue District.

In addition, Maximus Anumanggi, another witness for the Petitioner, said there was no voting for DPR and DPD at the polling stations. Still, the DPR and DPD voting process was carried out at the district/ subdistrict level during the vote count recapitulation process at the district level.

Also read:

Golkar Wants South Papua KPU’s Decision Reversed

No Witness Objections, KPU Asks Court to Dismiss Golkar’s Petition on South Papua 3

PAN’s Objection

At the hearing, South Papua Provincial KPU member Helda Richarda Ambay explained that during the recapitulation at the South Papua Province level, there was an objection from PAN. PAN witnesses brought photos of C-result documents from polling stations and also C-result copies. “PAN has [reported] indications of vote loss in districts and regencies, so during the recapitulation with Bawaslu the data were reviewed,” Ambay said.

After the review, continued Ambay, it was found that PAN’s votes were likely purged, so the data was corrected from 5,430 to 5,690 votes. “So, after comparing the C-result data with Bawaslu, the initial votes of 5,430 became 5,690,” she said.

Next, Mappi Regency KPU chairperson Yati Enoch stated that at the district level, she validated the Golkar’s total of 5,464 votes and PAN’s 5,430 votes. After the plenary meeting ended at the district level, she continued to participate in the recapitulation at the provincial level, where there was a data comparison.

“PAN did not [compare data] in the regency, nor did it file any incident report related to its votes. So, the Mappi Regency KPU understood that there was no objection by PAN,” said Enoch.

She revealed that Golkar also filed an objection regarding the vote determination at the district level that changed at the provincial level. Data comparison was also carried out at the provincial level, but at the provincial level, Golkar’s votes did not change. “They filled out an objection form,” she explained.

Meanwhile, Jechlin Madarch Lufkey, a witness for the Relevant Party, said that at the Mappi Regency recapitulation meeting, the Mappi Regency KPU invited political party leaders to discuss election issues due to heating local politics. At the meeting, they discussed recommendations by the Mappi Regency Bawaslu. There was an agreement between the Mappi Regency KPU and party leaders that the district recapitulation meeting could continue. “Everyone agreed and there were no objections from the witnesses. And Golkar signed the minutes,” said Lufkey.

The Petitioner argued that the Respondent (KPU) did not implement Article 60 paragraph (10) of the KPU Regulation No. 25 of 2023 concerning voting and vote count in general elections. However, the recommendation for ballot recount for the DPR, DPD, Papua Province DPR for South Papua 3, and Regency/City DPRD in the districts of Passue, Haju, Miyanmur, and Obaa was not carried out by the Respondent.

As a result of the Respondent’s violations and changes in the vote acquisition of political parties and candidates for the DPR election for South Papua in the electoral district of Asmat Regency, the Respondent’s deliberate failure to carry out the Mappi Regency Bawaslu’s recommendation for a recount, the recapitulation of the parties and candidates’ votes for the DPR election for South Papua was invalid and the votes’ purity is doubted.

Author              : Utami Argawati
Editor               : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                    : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator         : Frity Michael Br Sembiring/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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