A 2024 legislative election results dispute ruling hearing presided over by nine constitutional justices, Monday (6/10/2024) in the plenary courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Teguh.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) rejected the entire petition for case No. 166-01-01-26/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024, filed by the National Awakening Party (PKB), regarding the election of candidates for the Sigi Regency DPRD in electoral district Sigi 5. In its decision, the Court asserted that the Petitioner’s argument had no basis in law. The verdict in this case was read out by Chief Justice Suhartoyo on Monday, June 10, 2024 in the plenary courtroom.
“[The Court] rejects the Petitioner’s petition in its entirety,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) alongside the other eight constitutional justices.
Vote Reduction Not Proven
In its legal considerations, delivered by Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman, the Court highlighted the Petitioner’s argument of a reduction of its votes at TPS (polling station) 3 of Boya Baliase Village, which was 20 votes previously and then changed to 19 votes, for which the Petitioner referred to exhibits P-3, P-4, and P-5. The Court found that the regency/city DPRD C-result forms shown as exhibits P-3 and P-4 contained the votes of all parties at said TPS before any corrections. Meanwhile, exhibit P-5 was the appendix to the regency/city DPRD D-result form after correction.
Justice Anwar further said that based on facts obtained at the hearing, it was discovered that the correction occurred due to objections raised by several political parties when there was a margin between the valid and invalid votes or the voter turnout. The incident occurred at the plenary meeting on February 24. In response to these objections, the subdistrict election supervisory committee (panwascam) recommended recounting the votes for PKB (National Awakening Party), NasDem (National Democratic Party), and Democratic Party for the election of the Regency/City DPRD in Sigi 5. This recommendation was then followed up by the Marawola subdistrict election committee (PPK). Based on the recount, it was found that not only PKB (the Petitioner) but also several other parties experienced changes in vote acquisition.
The Court also explained that corrections were then made on the results of the recount carried out by the Respondent using a correction pen by deleting and rewriting the results on the regency/city DPRD C-result form by the polling committee (PPS) Boya Baliase Village and including them on the regency/city DPRD D-result form. According to the Court, this was also supported by the Respondent’s witness, Marini, who stated that at the time of the recapitulation and determination of the subdistrict recapitulation, the Petitioner’s witness (PKB) was present and signed D-result form. In addition, the subdistrict recapitulation recount at TPS 3 of Boya Baliase Village, Marawola Subdistrict, Sigi Regency showed that voter turnout reflected the final voters of 208 voters.
Therefore, according to the Court, the Petitioner’s argument regarding the reduction of votes from 20 to 19 votes was not supported by letters/written evidence and the witnesses presented by the Petitioner at the hearing. The Court stated that the Respondent’s written evidence had successfully refuted the Petitioner’s arguments. All evidence submitted by the Respondent was relevant and supported the Respondent’s answers and statement. In addition, the statements of the Respondent’s witnesses were corroborated by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), as well as letter/written evidence submitted by the Respondent and Bawaslu, which the Court concluded were mutually supportive and consistent.
Administrative Violations Not Proven
In addition to questioning the vote reduction, the Petitioner also argued about administrative violations. In its consideration, the Constitutional Court stated that in response to alleged administrative violations reported by Darwis Saing, the Sigi Regency Bawaslu had issued a letter No. 001/LP/ADM.PL/BWSL.KAB/26.11/III/2024 on the status of the report dated March 25, which was based on the Sigi Regency Bawaslu decree that the reported parties were not proven legally and convincingly to have violated the ordinances, procedures, or mechanisms in laws and regulations of the election stages.
“In addition, on the B.13 form dated March 28, 2024 regarding notification of report status, the Sigi Regency Bawaslu also stated that the report No. 001/Reg/LP/PL/Kab/26.11/III/2024 by Darwis Saing has been terminated because it did not meet the elements of alleged election crimes,” Justice Anwar said.
Vote Reduction at TPS 05 Uwemanje Village
In addition to TPS 03 of Baliase Village, Marawola Subdistrict, the Petitioner also argued that there was an increase in the votes for the Relevant Party (PDI-P or the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle) from 20 votes to 29 votes at TPS 05 of Uwemanje Village, Kinovaro Subdistrict, Sigi Regency 5, as a result of data input administration errors by the Respondent and can be seen from the difference in the C-result form, C-result copy, and D-result form or exhibits P-6, P-7, and P-8. Exhibits P-6 and P-7 are the C-result form and its copy, respectively, before correction. The corrections were made due to objection by PDI-P’s mandate witnesses who questioned the number of ballots declared invalid.
In response to the objection, the elections supervisory committee (Panwaslu) of Kinovaro Subdistrict then gave a verbal recommendation, which was then followed up by the Kinovaro Subdistrict PPK by opening the ballot boxes and recounting the ballots used for the Regency/City DPRD election at TPS 05 of Uwemanje Village in Kinovaro Subdistrict. Then, afterward, changes were seen. The previously 48 invalid votes were reduced to 8. The 40 votes were turned into valid votes. The correction increased votes for several political parties, including the Petitioner.
The Court stated that the change in votes had been corrected using a correction pen and rewritten on the C-result form which were then initialed and recorded onto the D-result form. In addition, the correction at the subdistrict recapitulation at TPS 05 of Uwemanje Village showed that the permanent voters were 193, the additional voters were 2, and the special voter was 1. The Court further stated that since the Petitioner did not present witnesses to support its arguments on the opening of the ballot box and the recount at TPS 05 of Uwemanje Village, it was evident that the recount was carried out not due to an objection by the Petitioner’s witness to the addition of votes to PDI-P, but because of an objection by the Relevant Party’s (PDI-P) witness who objected to the number of invalid votes.
On the other hand, the Court found that the letters/written evidence submitted by the Respondent and the Relevant Party were able to refute the Petitioner’s arguments. They were relevant and/or mutually compatible, with Bawaslu’s statement as well. Meanwhile, after careful examination of exhibits P-9 to P-11 filed by the Petitioner, the Court found they were not referred to in the petition. The D-result form and the C-result copy from TPS 02 of Tinggede Village, Marawola Subdistrict (exhibit P-10) and the appendix to the subdistrict D-result form of Tinggede Village were not questioned by the Petitioner, so that the Court considered those evidence irrelevant.
Also read:
PKB Questions PDIP’s Vote Inflation in Sigi 5
KPU Confirms Sigi Regency Vote Count Recapitulation as Accurate
PKB Witness Reveals Vote Inflation to PDIP in Sigi 5
Administrative Violations at TPS 05 Uwemanje Village
The Court asserted that for the argument on administrative violations by PPK as revealed by the difference between the data in the C-result form, C-result copy, and D-result form of TPS 05 of Uwemanje Village, the Petitioner could not support its argument, because there was no letters/written evidence.
However, based on the Sigi Regency Bawaslu’s written statement, it had issued a decree on the Marawola PPK and the Kinovaro PPK as the Reported, which stated that both had not been proven legally and convincingly to have violated the ordinances, procedures, or mechanisms of election stages under the provisions of laws and regulations. In addition, on the B.18 form on the notification of report status, it stated that the results of the review by the Sigi Regency Gakkumdu (integrated law enforcement) were terminated because it did not show any the elements of election crimes.
Author : Adam Ilyas
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Tiara Agustina
Translators : Frity Michael Br Sembiring/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.
Monday, June 10, 2024 | 12:51 WIB 77