KPU Must Recount Ballots at 147 Polling Stations in East Kalimantan

The Petitioner’s legal counsel, Harimuddin and Musthakim Alghosyaly, while attending the ruling hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of Province/Regency of East Kalimantan Province, on Monday, June 10, 2024 in the Plenary Courtroom, Building 1 of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Public Relations/Ifa.

JAKARTA (MKRI) — After conducting spot checks at random on several polling stations (TPS) by comparing Form C.Results with Form D.Results from the parties involved, inconsistencies were found in the vote acquisition of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Democratic Party (Democrat). As a result, there were discrepancies or corrections in the vote acquisition that could not be explained and proven by the Respondent. This is because, although corrections were made sequentially and there were signatures from political party witnesses on the vote acquisition, these were done under threats from the organizers.

This was stated by Constitutional Justice Arsul Sani while reading the legal considerations of the Court in Decision No. 219-01-14-23/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 filed by Democrat. The ruling hearing for the 2024 legislative election results dispute of Province/Regency Councils (PHPU DPR/DPRD) was held at the Court on Monday, June 10, 2024.

Arsul Sani further read that the Court noted the differences in vote acquisition, including the increase in votes for PAN and the reduction for Democrat. The East Kalimantan Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) also issued a decision on electoral administrative violations related to the discrepancies in vote counts based on Form C.Results Copy-DPR and Form D.Results-Subdistrict DPR. As a result, 9 Subdistrict Election Committees (PPKs) including North Balikpapan, South Sangatta, Muara Ancalong, Teluk Pandan, Anggana, Muara Badak, Tenggarong, Linggang Bigung, and Talisayan were given written warnings for legally and convincingly committing administrative violations in the recapitulation of vote acquisition results in those subdistricts.

Despite finding that the vote counts from 12 randomly sampled TPS matched those established by the Respondent, Arsul continued, the decision by Bawaslu means that the Court cannot simply accept and validate the intended vote acquisition. This is particularly the case for TPS 27 in Mugirejo, Sungai Pinang Subdistrict; TPS 125 in North Sangatta, North Sangatta Subdistrict; and TPS 17 in Loa Duri Ulu, Loa Janan Subdistrict, where Bawaslu did not attach evidence of the vote counts for PAN and the Democratic Party. Additionally, the Respondent failed to present any Form D.Results evidence for the Anggana and West Samboja Subdistricts."

With these facts, it is difficult for the Court to determine the correct vote acquisition at the TPS alleged by the Petitioner. These facts also raise doubts about the accuracy of the vote counts at the mentioned TPS Therefore, to ensure legal certainty and restore the purity of voter intentions, the Court must order the Respondent to conduct a recount of the ballots at 147 TPS. This is intended to prevent doubts and a legitimacy crisis regarding the election results at those polling stations," stated Arsul.

The Respondent can carry out the agenda for the ballot recount within 21 days from the pronouncement of this decision. This timeframe is considered sufficient so as not to disrupt the schedule for the inauguration of the House of Representatives members resulting from the 2024 General Elections and other constitutional agendas such as the 2024 Simultaneous Local Elections, which will be held in November 2024.

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Vote Margin Between the Democratic Party and PAN in the East Kalimantan Electoral District

During the Preliminary Hearing on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, the Petitioner requested that the Court annul the General Elections Commission Decision No. 360 of 2024 regarding the electoral area of East Kalimantan for the filling of House of Representatives candidate memberships. In the comparison of the correct vote counts, according to the Respondent, PAN received 111,141 votes and, according to the Petitioner, should have received 110,775 votes, resulting in a difference of 366 votes. Meanwhile, the vote count for Democrat according to the Respondent was 110,752 votes and according to the Petitioner was 110,935 votes, resulting in a difference of 183 votes.

The Petitioner specifically stated that the difference in vote acquisition occurred due to discrepancies between Form C.Results DPR/Copy and Form D.Results Subdistrict-DPR across nine regencies/cities in the East Kalimantan electoral district. As a result, there are indications of factual changes including an increase of 366 votes for PAN and a reduction of 183 votes for the Petitioner. Based on these claims, the Petitioner requests the Court to make a decision establishing the correct vote acquisition according to the Petitioner for filling House of Representatives memberships in the East Kalimantan electoral district, with Democrat receiving 110,935 votes and PAN receiving 110,775 votes.

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KPU Must Recount Ballots at 147 Polling Stations in East Kalimantan