The Petitioner’s legal counsels Wahyudi and Fiili Latuamury at the ruling hearing for case No. 203-01-09-37/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024, Monday (6/10/2024) in the plenary courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) rejected the Nusantara Awakening Party’s (PKN) petition on the Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) members’ election results dispute (PHPU) for Papua Pegunungan Province. The ruling hearing for case No. 203-01-09-37/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 was held on Monday, June 10, 2024 at the plenary courtroom and presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo alongside the eight other constitutional justices.

In its legal considerations, the Court explained that the Jayawijaya Regency Bawaslu’s (Elections Supervisory Body) recommendation No. 051/PP.00.02K PA-06/3/3024 dated March 19 asked the Respondent in casu the Jayawijaya Regency KPU (General Elections Commission) to correct the recapitulation of vote counting results in several districts, where the Petitioner received 4,600 votes.

The KPU as the Respondent said that the recommendation could not be followed up because the plenary recapitulation at the regency and provincial levels had been completed. The Court understood the recommendation in addition to the fact that the physical letter was only received by the Respondent on March 23 or after the national recapitulation plenary meeting on March 20, also because the recommendation also asked the Jayawijaya Regency KPU to make corrections to the recapitulation results, where the Jayawijaya Regency Bawaslu had previously determined the votes that must be corrected.

Justice M. Guntur Hamzah said that Bawaslu’s recommendations must be based on a comprehensive study, especially hearing all relevant parties i.e. the election organizers. Even if it was true that there were things as described by the parties in their responses and testimonies, according to the Court, before Bawaslu set the recommendation to correct the vote, it was important for it to compare the vote acquisition using the parties’ (KPU, Bawaslu, and the reporting party) evidence, not using the evidence submitted by the complainant’s witnesses, the Petitioner’s witnesses, without comparing it with the Respondent’s evidence.

“Therefore, such a correction procedure, according to the Court, cannot be justified because Bawaslu only considered one side, which is the vote acquisition based on all political party witnesses’ evidence without considering the Respondent’s evidence of the vote acquisition,” said Justice Guntur.

Based on the description of the legal considerations above, the Court asserted that the Respondent’s failure to follow up on Bawaslu’s recommendation as desired by the Petitioner was justifiable as it related to the Petitioner’s vote acquisition other than that questioned in the recommendation.

In addition, Justice Guntur continued, the Court could not assess the truth of the argument that there had been additional votes for the Great Movement Party (Gerindra) and the Democratic Party at the regency level, because the Petitioner did not submit letters or written evidence that supported this argument. “In other words, the Petitioner’s a quo arguments are not supported by evidence that convinces the Court,” said Justice Guntur.

Pegunungan Bintang Regency 1 DPRD

Furthermore, the Court had also examined the regency/city DPRD C-result copy evidence submitted by the Respondent where the Petitioner’s vote acquisition was the same as stated on the regency/city DPRD subdistrict D-result form of Serambakon District and the regency/city DPRPP D-result form, where PKN candidate No. 4 Ambros Uropmabin had obtained 597 votes and PKN candidate No. 8 Januarius Kakyarmabin had obtained 9 votes, so the total votes for PKN in Serambakon District were 606.

“Based on the description of the legal considerations above, the Court asserts that the Petitioner’s arguments regarding the vote acquisition of DPR regency candidates in electoral district (dapil) of Pegunungan Bintang 1 have no basis in law,” said Justice Guntur.

Also read:

Vote Reduced, PKN Lost Three Seats in Papua Pegunungan

KPU Reveals Vote Recapitulation in Wame District Marred by Obstacles and Intimidation

Witness Claims PKN’s Votes Decreased for Papua Pegunungan DPRD

In the petitum, the Petitioner asks the Court to annul the General Elections Commission (KPU) Decree No. 360 of 2024 as it pertains to the Papua Pegunungan Provincial DPRD seats in the electoral districts of Papua Pegunungan 1 and 2, as well as the election of Pegunungan Bintang Regency DPRD in the electoral district of Pegunungan Bintang 1. It also requests the Court to confirm PKN’s vote counts for the Provincial DPRD in Papua Pegunungan 1 at 13,723 votes and Papua Pegunungan 2 at 50,889 votes, as well as 2,100 votes for the Regency DPRD in the electoral district of Pegunungan Bintang 1.

Author              : Utami Argawati
Editor               : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                    : Fauzan Febriyan
Translators       : Jessica Rivena Meilania/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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