Legal counsel Kamaruddin (right) at the preliminary examination hearing for Case No. 44/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the East Aceh regent election results, Thursday (1/9/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) held a preliminary examination hearing for the 2024 East Aceh regent election results dispute in the panel 3 courtroom. The hearing, which took place on Thursday, January 9, 2025, reviewed the petition filed by the East Aceh regent-vice regent candidates 01 Sulaiman-Abdul Hamid.

In Case No. 44/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, the Petitioners felt disadvantaged by alleged violations during the voting process that were conducted in a structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) manner. The Petitioners highlighted the involvement of village heads and officials in campaigning for candidates 03 Iskandar Usman Al Farlaky-Zainal Abidin (Relevant Party). The Petitioners argued that the violations significantly influenced the election results and harmed their vote acquisition.

Legal counsel Kamaruddin stated that he had attached a number of evidence and arguments related to various violations that occurred during the election process. One of the key issues raised was the alleged involvement of village heads and officials in Madat District, East Aceh Regency. These officials were suspected of actively directing residents to vote for the Relevant Party, which ultimately resulted in a significant number of votes being obtained at various polling stations.

The Petitioners firmly rejected the results of the vote recapitulation certified by the East Aceh Independent Election Commission (KIP) based on Decree No. 82 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 East Aceh regent election vote counting recapitulation announced on December 3, 2024. The Petitioners argued that the results did not reflect the actual votes due to various fraudulent practices benefiting a certain candidate pair.

Legal counsel Kamaruddin explained that the village head forum in Madat District declared to support one of the candidate pairs. "It further had implications for 17 villages. The forum was attended by 17 village representatives and significantly impacted the vote acquisition," he said.

The Petitioners claimed that the fraudulent practices had undermined the principles of democracy and resulted in the vote acquisition not reflecting the genuine will of the people. This alleged violation was perceived as having directly impacted the Petitioners' vote acquisition while significantly benefiting the Relevant Party. Therefore, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the vote recapitulation results and order a revote in East Aceh. (*)

Author  : Utami Argawati
Editor   : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Tiara Agustina
Translators     : Nazila Rikhusshuba / 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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