The Petitioners for the Central Bengkulu regent election results dispute withdrawing their petition for case No. 137/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, Wednesday (1/8/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Central Bengkulu Regent Candidate Pair 2 Evi Susanti and Rico Zaryan Saputra (Evi-Rico) withdrew their 2024 election results dispute case, as confirmed by panel 2 chair Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra at the preliminary hearing on Wednesday, January 8, 2025.

“Cases 102, 137, and 196 are hereby withdrawn,” said Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, who was accompanied by Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani.

Evi-Rico had lodged their petition on Saturday, December 7, 2024 under the Case Number 137/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025.

In their petition, they argued that there was an indication of vote inflation carried out by Candidate Pair 1 Rachmat Rianto and Tarmizi (Rachmat-Tarmizi), who allegedly mobilized voters at almost 30 polling stations in Central Bengkulu Regency.

The Petitioners also alleged the mobilization of civil state apparatus, village officials, and misappropriation of the regional revenue and expenditure budget (APBD) to secure election victory for Rachmat-Tarmizi. Evidence of this allegation was the development of a network of civil state apparatus by Rachmat to support his regent candidacy while serving as the regional secretary of Central Bengkulu. This was also indicated by the misappropriation of the regional budget for a vote buying practice known as “serangan fajar” or “dawn attack” (lit.).

Author           : Ahmad Sulthon Zainawi
Editor            : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Fauzan Febriyan
Translators     : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/Yuniar Widiastuti (RA)

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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