Chief Justice Suhartoyo (left) and Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (right) emphasizing the integrity of the constitutional justices and Court staff members at a press conference amid the registration of petitions disputing the local election results, Tuesday (12/10/2024). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W. M.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) kept accepting registrations of petitions disputing the results of the 2024 simultaneous local election until early Wednesday morning, December 11, 2024. Until 04:35 WIB, the Court has received 240 petitions—2 on the gubernatorial election, 194 on the regent election, and 44 on the mayoral election.

On Tuesday night, Chief Justice Suhartoyo and Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra came to the registration hall in the Court’s main building. The chief justice highlighted several issues, such as the fact that the Constitutional Court justices and staff members are accessible to Court observers. He expressed his hope that journalists would help observe the constitutional justices and staff members in maintaining their integrity.

“Journalists can provide inputs to the Court. If these inputs are confirmed, we might anticipate things. If we leave [allegations] as they are, they could be seen as true, even if it is not the case. [If you provide inputs], we can take action,” he stressed.

He also said that hearings for all the 2024 regional election results disputes will commence after all petitions have been registered and numbered. This is expected to be sometime in January. However, the Court will adjust according to situations in the field, he said.

Next, he explained that three panels will be examining the petitions. “The hearings will be divided into three panels, unless there are crucial things [to examine], then there will be plenary hearings. However, that will be an exception. The ruling will be read at plenary hearings,” Chief Justice Suhartoyo said.

Asked about the Constitutional Court Ethics Council (MKMK), whose term will end on December 31 this year, the chief justice said that the Court had taken several steps to prevent any vacuum in the council. “We will anticipate to prevent any vacuum,” he said.

Medan Election Dispute

Meanwhile, Medan mayor-vice mayor candidates 2 Ridha Dharmajaya-Abdul Rani have filed a petition. Through legal counsels Rion Ario and Tomi Febrianto, they challenge the KPU’s (General Elections Commission) decision to organize voting on November 27 despite nine subdistricts in Medan City being submerged in flooding.

“We believe many voters did not turn out. They did not abstain, but simply could not vote at the polling stations due to flooding,” Rion said.

Rion said the team had requested that the Medan City KPU hold a revote since many residents had failed to cast their vote due to flooding, but he received no response. For this reason, the Petitioners emphasized their request that the election be rerun.

Bekasi Election Dispute

Next, through legal counsels Jeri Handriansah, Ikbal Daud Hutapea, and Ismail, Bekasi City mayor-vice mayor candidates 1 Heri Koswara-Solihin question the failure to implement Bekasi City Bawaslu’s (Elections Supervisory Body) recommendation in the city-level recapitulation.

“Everything that we brought to the Constitutional Court has been reported to Bawaslu. One case we pay attention to is unsynchronized data during KPU recapitulation, for which Bawaslu offered a recommendation for revision. However, the recommendation was not implemented by the KPU,” Jeri said.

Until 04:35 WIB on Wednesday, the list of the 2024 regional election result dispute petitions on the Court’s website showed 240 petitions have been lodged thus far; 115 were filed online through SIMPEL, while the other 125 were lodged on site.

Author              : Ilham W. M./L. A. P.
Editor               : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator         : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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