Petitioner’s Legal Counsel, Ucok Edison Marpaung (right) dan Annisa Diva Picaesa (left),when attending the Ruling Hearing at the Plenary Courtroom on Monday (10/6/2024). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.
JAKARTA (MKRI) —— The Constitutional Court (MK) instructs the General Elections Commission (KPU) (Respondent) to conduct a recount of votes in the Sentani District for all political parties' votes for the election of members of the Papuan People's Representative Council (DPRP) in Electoral District (Dapil) Papua 3. This was stated by the Court in the ruling hearing of Decision No. 17-01-05-33/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024, which granted the petition in part.
"[The Court] rules that the results of the votes for political parties and candidates for the Papuan People's Representative Council (DPRP) in Electoral District (Dapil) Papua 3 in Sentani District must undertake vote recapitulation," said Chief Justice Suhartoyo, accompanied by eight other constitutional justices, in the Plenary Hearing Courtroom in Jakarta on Monday, June 10 2024.
Chief Justice Suhartoyo said that the vote recount will be conducted by first comparing Form C. Results with Form D. Sub-district Results from all polling stations (TPS) in the Sentani District. In the event of discrepancies between Form C. Results and Form D. Sub-district Results, KPU must adhere to Form C. Results within a maximum period of 21 days from the date of this ruling.
Then KPU combined the results of the recount with the vote count results for the filling of members of DPRP for Papua Dapil 3 that was not annulled by the Court. Subsequently, KPU declared and announced it in accordance with the provisions of the laws and regulations without needing to report to the Court.
KPU and the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) supervised the implementation of this court decision. Additionally, the Court instructed the Indonesian National Police or its units to secure the recount process in accordance with their authority.
The petitioner argued that there was a problem of vote shifting, namely a reduction in votes for the NasDem (National Democratic Party) and an increase in votes for other political parties due to the non-provision of model D forms. The results at the district level indicate this. In the legal considerations of the Court, Constitutional Justice Arsul Sani explained that this argument needs to be further proven by comparing the model C forms and the model D forms from the district results.
After conducting a comparison between the model C. Duplicate Results submitted as evidence by the Petitioner and the model D. District Results along with its attachments submitted as evidence by KPU, the Court found that out of 225 TPS in Sentani District, only three TPS had matching numbers of ballot paper usage as stated in the model C. Duplicate Results and the model D. District Results. These three TPS are TPS 56 in Sentani Kota Sub-district, TPS 23 in Hinekombe Sub-district, and TPS 01 in Kampung Sereh Sub-district, while the remaining 222 TPS showed discrepancies.
Justice Arsul stated that only Bawaslu submitted evidence in the form of a collection of model C. Duplicate Results forms from all TPS in Sentani District except for TPS 15, TPS 16, TPS 17, TPS 18, TPS 19, TPS 20, TPS 21, TPS 22, TPS 23, TPS 24, TPS 51, TPS 52, TPS 53, TPS 63, and TPS 64 in Sentani Kota Village/Sub-district, as well as TPS 3, TPS 22, TPS 34, TPS 59, TPS 60, and TPS 69 in Hinekombe Village/Sub-district.
After the Court conducted a comparison between the model C. Duplicate Results submitted as evidence by the Petitioner and the model D. District Results along with its attachments submitted as evidence by KPU, the Court found that out of 225 TPS in Sentani District, only three TPS had matching numbers of ballot paper usage as stated in the model C. Duplicate Results and the model D. District Results. These three TPS are TPS 56 in Sentani Kota Sub-district, TPS 23 in Hinekombe Sub-district, and TPS 01 in Kampung Sereh Sub-district, while the remaining 222 TPS showed discrepancies.
"Hence, the Court did not obtain confidence regarding the accuracy and purity of the votes in the aforementioned Sentani District," said Justice Arsul.
Also read:
NasDem’s Election Dispute for DPRP in Papua 3 Proceeds to Evidentiary Hearing
Previously, the Court had issued an excerpt of the decision regarding this case on May 21, 2024. Before rendering the final decision, the Court declared that the petitioner's petition regarding the election of members of the House of Representatives (DPR) Council of Jayapura Dapil 4 was inadmissible. Meanwhile, the petition from NasDem regarding DPRP of Papua Dapil 3, which also had a petition, was continued in the examination session with a proof agenda, the result of which is decided today as mentioned above.
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NasDem: Loss of DPRP Seat in Papua 3
In its petition, NasDem filed a petition for the 2024 Election Dispute (PHPU) to the Constitutional Court (MK) regarding the appointment of candidates for members of DPRP Dapil 3 and the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) of Jayapura Regency Dapil 4. The petitioner argued that there was a shift in vote acquisition resulting in the loss of their seat in the DPRP Dapil Dapil 3.
The petitioner mentioned an increase in votes for Golkar (Party of Functional Groups) by 3,120 votes in Sentani District. Additionally, there were increases in votes for several other parties, with an increase of 487 votes for PKB (National Awakening Party), while NasDem experienced a reduction of 28 votes. Due to these increases and decreases in votes, NasDem only acquired one seat. The petitioner claimed that if the pure votes from the polling stations in Sentani District were returned, NasDem would secure two seats in the first and ninth seats of DPRD of Papua Dapil 3. Furthermore, reductions and increases in vote acquisition also occurred for the filling of members of the DPRD Jayapura Regency Dapil 4. As a result, NasDem lost its seat in DPRD Jayapura Regency Dapil 4.
Also read:
Witnesses Mention NasDem Votes Reduced in Papua 3
Author: Mimi Kartika.
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.
Monday, June 10, 2024 | 10:24 WIB 147