Saleh Hidayat, legal counsel of Case No. 235/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, attending the preliminary hearing of Sukabumi Regency election results dispute, Friday (1/3/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Sukabumi regent-vice regent candidate pair 01 Iyos Somantri and Zainul cited vote inflation as the one of reasons in their petitums. The Constitutional Court (MK) held the preliminary hearing for Case No. 235/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Wednesday, January 8, 2025 in a panel courtroom. Chief Justice Suhartoyo presided over the hearing alongside Constitutional Justices Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah.

The Petitioners were represented by legal counsel Saleh Hidayat. The Respondent is the Sukabumi Regency KPU (Elections Commission), and the Relevant Party is the Sukabumi regent-vice regent candidate pair 02 Asep Japar and Andreas.

In the petition, the Petitioners alleged that vote inflation had occurred at 469 polling stations (TPS). They argued that their votes differed by 73,726 from candidate pair 02, signifying inflated votes in the final recapitulation results.

“The difference in the final recapitulation is only 65 thousand, indicating a striking difference at 469 polling stations,” Saleh read out the petition’s arguments to the panel.

The Petitioners also alleged structured, systematic and massive (TSM) violations by the involvement of the Sukabumi District state civil apparatus (ASN). They argued that the alleged violations were reflected in one of the speeches of the Sukabumi regent, indicating his support to candidate pair 02.

“We also submitted video evidence, one of which contained the regent’s speech as the campaign team chairman and the chairman of Golkar (Party of Functional Groups) as the nominating party,” said Saleh.

The Petitioners also claimed to have video evidence containing village heads’ statements of support for the Relevant Party, as well as allegations of vote buying in the form of distribution of staple food items.

“There were 68 events with 68 pieces of evidence showing TSM violations to strengthen the argument,” Saleh said.

With those arguments, the Petitioners wish that the Court will order the Respondent to do a revote at 469 polling stations in 27 districts in Sukabumi Regency. They also requested the Court to disqualify the other candidate or declare the votes at those 469 polling stations invalid.

“So, according to the Petitioner, the Respondent should certify 471.072 final votes for the Petitioners and 461,928 votes for candidate pair 02, with a difference of 8,224 votes,” Saleh said.

Responding to this petition, the panel requested the Respondent, Relevant Party, and Bawaslu (Election Supervisory Body) to respond at the following examination hearing. “The Respondent, Relevant Parties, and Bawaslu will respond to the Petitioners’ arguments,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo.

The petition for case No. 235/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 can be accessed here.

Author               : Ashri Fadilla
Editor                : N. Rosi
Translators        : Ryan Alfian/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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