Masinton Pasaribu, accompanied by his legal counsel, Arteria Dahlan, while submitting a request to be a relevant party in the Regent and Deputy Regent of Central Tapanuli Election Results Dispute on Monday (6/1/2025) at the Constitutional Court. Photo by MKRI.

---

JAKARTA, (MKRI) – The Masinton Pasaribu-Mahmud Efendi candidate pair has submitted a request to be a relevant party in the 2024 Tapanuli Tengah (Tapteng) Regent and Vice Regent Election Results Dispute (PHP Bupati) case. The request was represented by Arteria Dahlan, serving as the legal counsel for Masinton-Mahmud, on Monday, (6/1/2025), in the main lobby of the Constitutional Court Building.

 Arteria Dahlan revealed allegations of fraud committed by candidate pair number 1, Khairul Kiyedi Pasaribu and Darwin Sitompul (Kedan), who are the incumbent candidates. Among the claims were reports of directives given to employees instructing them to vote for Kedan.

“We are here to clarify that significant fraud has been committed by candidate number 1, Khairul Kiyedi Pasaribu and Darwin Sitompul,” stated Arteria.

Relevant Parties in the Pasaman and North Barito Regent Election Results Disputes

On the final day for submitting request as Relevant Parties, the Court received a request from the Pasaman regent and deputy regent candidate pair, Welly Suheri and Anggit Kurniawan Nasution (candidate pair number 1). The request was filed by Heru Widodo, acting as their legal counsel.

Heru stated that the Petitioner disputed the eligibility of the Relevant Parties, citing their status as former fraud convicts.

“In our view, the candidate requirements outlined in Article 7 remain fulfilled, as the prohibition applies only to former convicts sentenced to more than five years,” Heru explained.

Heru also filed a request for the Gogo Purman Jaya-Hendro Nakalelo candidate pair to be a Relevant Party in the North Barito Regent Election Results Dispute (PHP Bup). He noted that the case involved an eight-vote difference, with the Petitioner requesting a recount of votes at polling station 12 in Karenggan Hamlet. Heru highlighted that a recount had already been conducted at the sub-district level, resulting in the Related Party gaining one additional vote. This issue is now being challenged before the Court.

 “Moreover, the Petitioner’s claim that there was a distribution of remaining ballots is untrue, especially considering that the Petitioner won at the polling station in question. This was observed by witnesses from each candidate pair,” Heru stated.

For reference, the submission period for requests to be a Relevant Parties opened on January 3, 2025, with the deadline set for January 6, 2025.

Author         : Panji Erawan.
Editor          : N. Rosi.
Translator    : 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.

---