PPD in Papua Pegunungan 1 Dismissed, Nasdem Votes Vanish

The Constitutional Court held the PHPU hearing for Members of the House of Representatives, Provincial DPRD, Regency/City DPRD of Papua Pegunungan on Friday (31/5/2024) in Panel Courtroom 1 of the Constitutional Court. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

JAKARTA (MKRI) —— A Perindo (United Indonesia Party) candidate, Festus Asso, presented several witnesses in the hearing of Case No. 158-02-16-37/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 on the 2024 Election Dispute (PHPU) for DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) of Papua Pegunungan Province electoral district (dapil) 1. The witnesses presented by the Petitioner, who were also former PPD (District Election Committees) in Assotipo District, Popugoba District, and Maima District, claimed that the votes for the Petitioner were reduced to zero.

Former PPD, Maima Sepri Mulait, stated that based on agreements among the community and tribal leaders in Maima District, all votes totaling 5,726 were given to Festus Asso. However, the vote acquisition changed during the recapitulation process. "It changed to zero," said Sepri in the Plenary Courtroom, Central Jakarta, on Friday, May 31, 2024.

Before Panel 1 Justices, presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo along with Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah, the same assertion was stated by former PPD Chairperson, Assotipo, Bernadus Wetipo, and former PPD of Popugoba, Petrus Asso. All three former PPDs also admitted to being dismissed halfway through the vote recapitulation process.

According to Bernadus, when he tried to attend the plenary meeting at the Jayawijaya Regency level, he was unable because he had already been dismissed as PPD of Assotipo. "Previously, I was unaware and there was no notification letter," he said.

Meanwhile, Sonimo Lani, a member of Jayawijaya Regency KPU (General Election Commission), also admitted to being unaware of the reasons for the dismissal of several PPD members. According to him, the Decree (SK) regarding the replacement of PPD members was unilaterally made by the Jayawijaya Regency KPU Chairperson without the consent of the other members of the Jayawijaya Regency KPU.

"At that time, we were in the process of plenary hearing in other districts, so on March 13, 2024, the decree was issued unilaterally by the chairperson without us having a meeting where the decree regarding the replacement of members was discussed," said Sonimo.

Previously, in the petition, the Petitioner mentioned the replacement of old PPD members with new ones in the Papua Pegunungan 1, resulting in vote counting errors, especially in Assotipo District, Popugoba District, and Maima District. The Petitioner stated that 19,383 of their votes were lost to candidates from other parties in these three districts. In their petitum, the Petitioner requests the Court to stipulate the correct vote acquisition for the Petitioner for the appointment of members of the Papua Pegunungan Provincial DPRP in the Papua Pegunungan 1, specifically the votes for Perindo under the name of Festus Asso, totaling 19,383 votes.(*).

News

PPD in Papua Pegunungan 1 Dismissed, Nasdem Votes Vanish