Expert taking an oath for case No. 275-01-05-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 on the 2024 election results dispute of South Sumatra Province, Wednesday (5/29/2024). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) continued the hearing for the dispute over the results of the 2024 election of DPR (House of Representatives) for South Sumatra Province in the electoral districts of South Sumatera I and South Sumatera II, DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) for Lahat Regency 4 on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. The case No. 275-01-05-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was petitioned by the National Democratic Party (NasDem).

At the evidentiary hearing, Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat, Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih on Panel 3 heard witness statements and examined and validated additional evidence. It was attended by the Petitioner (Nasdem), the KPU (General Elections Commission) as Respondent, as well as the Democratic Party, Golkar (Party of Functional Groups), and PDI-P (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle) as Relevant Parties.

Petitioner’s Expert

As the Petitioner’s expert, Abhan explained Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) has the authority to handle election administrative, criminal, ethical, and other legal violations; violations of procedures or mechanisms related to the administration of election implementation at every stage, which do not include election crimes and violations of codes of ethics as stated in Article 460 paragraphs (1) and (2) of the Election Law.

He further explained that the main purpose of administrative sanctions is to correct errors. To make decisions, Bawaslu compares data submitted by the Petitioner and the Respondent to prove whether or not there has been a violation. The KPU is obliged to follow up on the decree of the provincial and regency/city Bawaslu no later than three working days from the date the decision was read out.

Follow-up to the decision might create its own problems. If the KPU and its staff do not follow up on the decision, the law mandates that complaints be made to the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) wben complaints to DKPP are unrelated to administrative correction sanctions. In fact, the priority is to correct these errors.

“It is appropriate for the Constitutional Court to be the final place to seek justice, [as it] adjudicates election disputes, considers Bawaslu decisions as an official institution,” explained Abhan.

Data Input Errors

Yuyunri, the Petitioner’s mandate witness in Tanjung Tebat Subdistrict, Lahat, explained NasDem’s vote acquisition. “There was a difference between the C1 copy and the subdistrict D-result form. NasDem’s 670 votes on the C1 became 312 in the D-result form. The difference was evident at 6 TPS (polling stations) in 4 villages: Tanjung Kurung Ulu, Padang Perigi, Tanjung Kurung Ilir, and Tanjung Menang. From this objection, as a mandated witness I have submitted an objection at the plenary session at the subdistrict level and it was written on the incident form. There has been no follow-up to this specific incident,” said Yuyunri.

Inaliansyah, the Petitioner’s second witness, was a witness at the regency. He gave the same testimony as Yuyunri. Apart from this, he added that on February 28, the first objection was submitted verbally to the regency for the opening of the ballot boxes and a recount. However, this was rejected by the KPU. Then it on March 7, the witness made an objection report to the regency Bawaslu. However, there has been no follow-up regarding this matter.

The Petitioner’s third witness, Dedi Ramanta, was its national witness at the KPU. “The recapitulation schedule at the KPU for South Sumatra was March 11, 2024. The session began with objections from the National Awakening Party (PKB) witnesses from 6 subdistricts. The objections were the same as that raised by [NasDem]. We conveyed to the chairman of the session that there were 6 subdistricts in 3 regencies where there had been input errors from the C-result form to D-result form. Six subdistrict election committee members were reported. Until today, the transcription error has not been corrected,” explained Dedi.

KPU and Bawaslu’s Witnesses

South Sumatra KPU Commissioner Nurul Mubarok testified that the recapitulation at the provincial level had gone smoothly. All objection letters were guaranteed to be discussed first during the recapitulation and in fact there were no objections regarding the recapitulation at the district level. This was also confirmed by Eskan Budiman, Empat Lawang Regency KPU member who was also a witness for the Respondent.

At TPS 08 of Baturaja Lama, the final voters list did not exactly match the voters who turned out. The difference between the final voters list and the voters who cast their vote was 34. Because of this, a recount was carried out there.

Also read:

NasDem Claims Eighth DPR Seat in South Sumatra I

Democrat, PKS, and PDIP Dismiss NasDem’s Arguments on Additional Votes in South Sumatra

Author              : Siti Rosmalina Nurhayati.
Editor                : Nur R.
Translator         : Sedanti Anjali Putri/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.

---