The Petitioners’ legal counsel Irham testifying in the preliminary hearing of mayoral election result dispute case No. 168/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Friday (1/10/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Palopo mayor-vice mayor candidate pair 02 Farid Kasim and Nurhaenih question the validity and authenticity of the diploma presented by mayor candidate 04 Trisal Tahir. The Palopo KPU (Elections Commission) as Respondent has certified Trisal Tahir-Akhmad Sarifuddin as the candidate pair with the most votes in the Palopo mayoral election.

However, the Petitioner claimed that the KPU decree should have been annulled considering candidate pair 04 had failed to meet the administrative requirements. The Petitioners stated that the Respondent did not implement the recommendation by the Palopo City Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), which stipulated that Trisal Tahir did not qualify as the city’s mayoral candidate.

“The recommendation of Palopo City Bawaslu related to forged diploma states that candidate pair 04 should be disqualified, but it was not implemented by the Respondent,” said Petitioners’ legal counsel Wahyudi Kasrul in panel courtroom 2. Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra chaired the hearing for this case No. 168/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 with Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on Friday, January 10, 2025.

Another legal counsel, Irham, added that the Respondent had declared Trisal Tahir ineligible. Upon verification, the Petitioners found the diploma certificate different to that of PKBM Yusha in the 2015/2016 academic year. Also, there is no record of Trisal’s name in the institution’s archives from the same academic year. As a result, the North Jakarta Region II Education Office has no record of Trisal’s diploma. In September 2024, the Palopo KPU released a statement declaring Trisal’s documents invalid.

However, Trisal Tahir’s legal counsel filed a dispute claim on the KPU’s decision, which stated that candidate pair 04 did not meet administrative requirements. The Respondent finally issued an official statement declaring Trisal Tahir’s candidacy valid on the ground that a decree was issued by the Palopo City Bawaslu.

The Petitioners emphasized that there was no agreement ordering the validation of Trisal Tahir’s candidacy in the Palopo City Bawaslu decree, making the KPU’s statement legally flawed and legally unwarranted.

In October 2024, Palopo Bawaslu once again recommended Trisal Tahir be declared ineligible as the letter and witness testimony stated that his diploma was not registered in the Education Office Region II of North Jakarta City. However, Palopo KPU did not implement Palopo Bawaslu’s recommendation, allowing Trisal and his running mate to participate in the Palopo mayoral election.

In the petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to: 1) annul the Palopo City KPU Decree No. 620 of 2024 on the certification of the Palopo election results dated December 5, 2024; and 2) declare the disqualification of candidate pair 04 Trisal Tahir and Akhmad Sarifuddin in the mayoral election. Alternatively, the Petitioners wish the Court would order the Palopo City KPU to hold a revote by excluding the candidate pair 04 Trisal Tahir and Akhmad Syarifuddin.

Author              : Mimi Kartika
Editor                : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                     : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator          : 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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