Legal counsel M. Badrus Zaman withdrawing petition on dispute over Klaten Regency election results at the preliminary hearing, Thursday (1/9/2025). Photo by MKRI.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) held a preliminary hearing for Case No. 22/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 concerning the 2024 Klaten Regency election results dispute on Thursday, January 9, 2025. It was filed by Candidate Pair 02 W. Herry Wibowo-Wahyu Adhi Dermawan. However, legal counsel M. Badrus Zaman withdrew the petition, citing failure to fulfill all requirements.

“We have proposed a written withdrawal on January 6, 2025 and at this hearing, we would like to request the withdrawal due to failure to fulfill requirements needed for this hearing,” explained Badrus.

The preliminary hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justice Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1. The Court requires clarification on a public hearing for any petition withdrawal. Thus, at today’s hearing, the Court invited the litigating parties as an exercise of caution in resolving the case.

“This hearing has to be held to ensure whether the withdrawal has met the requirements or if it is done by the involved parties,” explained Chief Justice Suhartoyo in the plenary courtroom.

In the petition, the Petitioners revealed that 43,655 invalid votes and the difference between the C1-copy forms and the D-result forms constitute a crime against democracy, as they indicated that the election was not free and fair. They requested to the annulment of the Klaten Regency KPU (Elections Commission) Decree No. 3076 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 regent-vice regent election results.

Candidate Pair 01 Yoga Hardaya-Sova Marwati obtained 282,125 votes; Candidate Pair 03 Hamenang Wajar Ismoyo-Benny Indra Ardhianto received 395,092 votes; while the Petitioners obtained 73,520 votes. The total votes were 794,392 votes, with 750,737 valid votes and 43,655 invalid votes. The Petitioners questioned the remaining 5,158 excess ballots destroyed by the Regency KPU without the knowledge of the Petitioners or the candidate pairs or their representatives.

Therefore, the Petitioners requested that the Court order the Klaten Regency KPU to cancel the Decree of the Klaten Regency KPU No. 3076 of 2024 concerning the certification of the results of the 2024 regent-vice regent election; to order the Klaten Regency KPU to conduct a recount; to order the Klaten Regency KPU to explain the number of invalid votes.

Author              : Sri Pujianti
Editor                : N. Rosi
Translators        : Syifa Amelia/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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