Andri Alisman and Deden Firman Fauzi, the legal counsels of Candidate Pair 1 Ruhimat-Aceng Kudus (Jimat-Aku) at the preliminary hearing of the Subang regent election results dispute, Wednesday (1/8/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Vote buying became the argument of the petition over the Subang regent election results dispute filled by Candidate Pair 1 Ruhimat-Aceng Kudus (Jimat-Aku). The preliminary hearing of Case Number 62/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 was presided over by the Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah at Panel 1, Building 1 of the Court.

Jimat-Aku (Petitioners) through their legal counsel Andri Alisman expressed allegations of vote buying, or money politics, in several voting stations carried out across Subang Regency by Candidate Pair 2 Reynaldy Putra Andita Budi Raemi and Agus Masykur Rosyadi, who were declared as the election winners by the General Elections Committee (KPU).

"Vote buying practices carried out by  Candidate Pair 2 involved multiple parties in a structured, premeditated, and tiered manner. The practices occurred widely or evenly in almost all polling stations in Subang Regency, thus affecting the number of votes acquired by the candidate pairs," said Andri while reading the essence of the petition before the Panel.

Vote buying, said Andri, was occurred in a structured and systematic manner— structured, because the Petitioners claimed to have found indications of the involvement of many parties, including the election organizers, the local government apparatus, and the voters.

Meanwhile, the Petitioners also alleged the vote buying practices involved minors. "The vote buying carried out by Candidate Pair 2 also assigned underaged children to deliver bribes to voters," claimed Andri.

It is claimed to be systematic because the Petitioners believe the practices were done through planning or preparations ahead of time, of which they claimed to possess evidence.

Administrative Violations

In addition to money politics, the Petitioner argued over the indications of administrative violations carried out by Reynaldy Putra Andita Budi Raemi in the form of inconsistent years of birth. There are discrepancies between his birth certificate and diploma, said the Petitioners.

"There are discrepancies in the birth year of Candidate 2 Reynaldi. One [document] says it's 1997, the other says 1996," Andri added.

For the reasons above, Jimat-Aku in their petitums requested the Court to revoke the Subang Regency KPU Decision Number 1862 of 2024 on the Certification of the Regent Election Results of Subang Regency of 2024. Jimat-Aku also requested the Court to disqualify candidate pairs Reynaldy Putra Andita Budi Raemi and Agus Masykur Rosyadi and to order the Subang Regional Elections Committee (KPUD)  to conduct a revote at all polling stations.

Author : Ashri Fadilla
Editor : N. Rosi
Translator : Muhammad Hafidh Al Mukmin/FS (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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