Legal counsel Rahmat (right) at the preliminary hearing for Case No. 219/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 concerning dispute over South Nias Regency election results on panel 3, Wednesday (1/8/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing for Case No. 219/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 on the 2024 South Nias Regency election results dispute. It was filed by Fajarius Laia-Sifaoita Buulolo, who reject the election results and request to disqualify Candidate Pair 01 Sokhiatulo Laia-Yusuf Nakhe (Relevant Party).

The preliminary hearing was presided over by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh. The Petitioners’ legal counsel, Rahmat, stated their objection to the voting process that was deemed invalid.

The Petitioners argued that the General Elections Commission (KPU) as Respondent had committed structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations. The Respondent certified Candidate Pair 01 as the elected candidate while the candidate pair did not qualify for the 2024 South Nias Regency election.

“The Candidate Pair 01 is suspected to have used a diploma that fails to meet the requirement. Our main concern is the validity of the diploma,” said Rahmat.

The Petitioners filed a report to Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), but it was dismissed due to not meeting formal requirements.

The second violation is misuse of campaign funds. “Candidate Pair 01 reported individual donations of Rp300 million to their campaign. Following the provisions of the laws and regulations on campaign funds, the excess use of campaign funds received should have been deposited into the state treasury no later than 14 days after the campaign period ends,” Rahmat asserted.

Therefore, the Petitioners requested the Court to disqualify the Relevant Party from the 2024 South Nias Regency election. They also requested the Court to state that if the Relevant Party is disqualified, the vote acquisition is as follows: Firman Giawa-Robert MZ. Dakhi earning 4,771 votes, Idealisman Dachi-Foluaha Bidaya earning 31,208 votes, and Fajarius Laia-Sifaoita Buulolo earning 31,494 votes.

Author: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR: Tiara Agustina
Translators: Syifa Amelia/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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