Petitioner’s legal counsel, Muhamad Pazri, while attending the preliminary hearing of Case No.05/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the Banjarbaru mayoral election dispute on Thursday, (1/9/2025) in panel 3 courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Bayu

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JAKARTA (MKRI) —Coordinator of the Nusantara Vision Study Institute, Muhamad Arifin, highlighted the absence of an empty box in the Banjarbaru City mayoral election, despite only one candidate pair participating. The Banjarbaru City General Election Commission (KPU) decree stipulates that votes cast for candidate pair 02 are invalid.

The Petitioners stated the information during the preliminary hearing of the Banjarbaru mayoral election, registered No. 05/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025. Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat chaired the hearing, with panel members Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Daniel Yusmic P Foekh.

To note, there were two candidate pairs competing in the Banjarbaru mayoral election, namely Lisa Halaby-Wartono (candidate pair 01) and Aditya Mufti Ariffin-Said Abdullah (candidate pair 02). On October 31, 2024, the Banjarbaru City KPU disqualified candidate pair 02, but their picture remained on the ballot. The results show that Lisa Halaby-Wartono obtained 36,135 votes and invalid votes received 78,736 votes.

The subject matter of the Petitioner and his legal counsel is the same as in case No. 06/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 that the preliminary hearing has been held earlier, with the legal counsel Denny Indrayana. However, Muhamad Pazri delivered the subject matter for this case in panel 3 courtroom on Thursday, January 9, 2025.

The Petitioner argued that the Banjarbaru City mayoral election should use a single candidate pair mechanism. Lisa Halaby-Wartono should compete against an empty box after the disqualification of Aditya Mufti Ariffin-Said Abdullah. This matter corresponds to the Article 54C paragraph (1) letter e and (2) of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Second Amendment to Law No. 1 of 2015 on the Stipulation of Government Regulation in lieu of Law No. 1 of 2015 on the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors (Pilkada Law).

Despite the Banjarbaru City KPU did not have time to print the ballot, it was the KPU’s obligation to find solutions so that the votes were not wasted and invalidated. The most feasible solution was counting the votes for candidate pair 02 as the votes casted for the empty box.

The Petitioner mentioned that the Banjarbaru City KPU deprived the right to vote for the people of Banjarbaru City. As the empty box is not provided, it violates Article 54C paragraph (1) letter e and (2) of the Pilkada Law jo. Article 80 and 81 of KPU Regulation No. 17 of 2024.

In addition, the absence of the empty column mechanism contradicts the Court decision which prohibits a single candidate to have a unanimous victory in an election. These Court decisions include No. 100/PUU-XIII/2015, No.14/PUU-XVII/2019, and No. 126/PUU-XXII/2024.

The Petitioner considers the Banjarbaru mayoral election to be invalid, as votes cast for candidate pair 02, instead of an empty box, were deemed invalid by the Banjarbaru City KPU.

As such, the Petitioner argues that the Central KPU declare the invalid votes to the votes for empty box and take over the Banjarbaru City mayoral election. Should the 78,736 invalid votes (68.5 percent) be transferred to the empty box, the acquisition of candidate pair 01 which received 36,135 votes (31.5 percent) does not meet the provisions of Article 54D paragraph (1) of Pilkada Law.

In the petitum, the Petitioner requested the Court to annul the Banjarbaru City KPU Decree No. 191 of 2024 on the Certification of Vote Results for the 2024 Banjarbaru mayor-vice mayor candidates dated December 02, 2024. Next, declare the 36,135 votes for Lisa Halaby-Wartono and 78,736 votes for the empty box.

The Petitioner also requests the Court to order Central KPU to take over the implementation of Banjarbaru mayor-vice mayor election by repeating all stages. Alternatively, canceling the Banjarbaru City KPU Decree No. 191 of 2024 on the Determination of Vote Results of the 2024 Banjarbaru city mayor-vice mayor dated December 02, 2024.

“[The Petitioners request the Court to] Order Central KPU to take over the election and conduct a revote in all polling stations of Banjarbaru City with the mechanism of candidate pair number 01 against the empty column,” added Pazri.(*)

Author           : Nawir Arsyad Akbar
Editor            : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Tiara Agustina
Translator      : Ryan Alfian / 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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