The Petitioners’ legal counsels Abdul Rasyid and Fedy Amirullah attending the preliminary hearing for Case No. 25/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Banyuasin regent election result dispute, Thursday (1/9/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Banyuasin regent candidate pair 02 Slamet dan Alfi Novtriansyah Rustam questioned vote-buying in the Banyuasin regent-vice regent election. Legal counsels Abdul Rasyid and Fedy Amirullah read their petition in the panel 1 courtroom on Thursday, January 09, 2025. Chief Justice Suhartoyo presided over the preliminary hearing for case No. 25/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 alongside panel members Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah.

In this case, the Banyuasin Regency KPU (Elections Commission) is the Respondent, while the Banyuasin regent-vice regent candidate pair 01 Askolani and Neta Indian is the Relevant Party.

In their petition, the Petitioners rejected the Respondent’s vote recapitulation results considering findings of violations, which includes vote-buying by the Relevant Party.

“The Petitioners’ reason to reject the Respondent’s decree is vote-buying by candidate pair 01, Askolani and Netta Indian,” added Rasyid when reading out the petition.

The Petitioners alleged that the vote-buying was conducted in a structured manner from the regency to the polling station levels. Furthermore, they suspected the massive vote-buying had employed field electoral coordinators, witnesses, and volunteers.

On November 26, 2024, the Petitioners had reported this vote-buying allegation to the Banyuasin Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), but the report was dismissed. In the petition, the Petitioners also explained that the vote-buying by the Relevant Party had harmed them as the Relevant Party’s votes increased significantly in 12 districts.

“The structured, systematic, and massive vote-buying that candidate pair 01 and/or their campaign team conducted were found in 12 out of 21 districts in Banyuasin Regency, i.e., Muara Sugihan, Air Salek, Banyuasin II, Banyuasin III, Muara Padang, Talang Kelapa, Rambutan, Karang Agung Ilir, Rantau Bayur, Sembawa, Tanjung Lago, and Makarti Jaya, where the votes for candidate pair 01 increased dramatically,” added Rasyid.

As such, in the petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Banyuasin KPU decree on the certification of 2024 Banyuasin regent election results. They also asked the Court to order the Respondent to do a revote and disqualify the other candidate pair.

On the request for disqualification, the panel inquired further explanation. The Petitioners responded that the revote must be held with a single candidate.

“So, a single candidate, you say?” asked Chief Justice Suhartoyo.

“Yes, Your Honor,” replied Fedy, the legal counsel.

The petition for case No. 25/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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