Legal counsel Didi Suprianto testifying at the governor election results dispute hearing for Case No. 249/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Friday (1/10/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – Southeast Sulawesi governor-vice governor candidates 04 Tina Nur Alam and La Ode Muh Ihsan Taufik Ridwan have filed a petition on the Southeast Sulawesi governor election results dispute to the Constitutional Court (MK). However, at the preliminary examination hearing, La Ode Muh Ihsan decided to withdraw the petition. Tina, however, proceeded with the petition registered under Case No. 249/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025.

“I withdrew the petition on my own accord, and there was no prior discussion with my partner or legal counsel, Your Honors,” stated La Ode Muh Ihsan before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2 in one of the courtrooms.

Meanwhile, Justice Saldi emphasized that filing a petition for the regional election results dispute requires the involvement of the candidate pair. He noted that it would be appropriate for La Ode Muh Ihsan to formally inform his partner and the legal counsel regarding the withdrawal. Nevertheless, based on the circumstances, Justice Saldi stated that the Court would take this into account, and the petition could still proceed.

“If you wish to present the petition, please do. The Respondent and the Relevant Party will later need to provide their responses, as we have specific provisions for resolving this matter,” stated Justice Saldi.

Arguments for Violations

Legal counsel Didi Supriyanto explained that the vote disparity between Candidate Pair 04 (Petitioners) and Candidate Pair 02 (Relevant Party), who received the highest number of votes, amounted to 466,810 votes. According to the Southeast Sulawesi KPU (Elections Commission) Decree No. 320 of 2024 on the certification of the governor election results, Candidate Pair 01 received 149,642 votes, Candidate Pair 02 secured 775,183 votes, Candidate Pair 03 garnered 246,393 votes, and Candidate Pair 04 obtained 308,373 votes. The Petitioners contended that this vote gap resulted from structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations committed by Candidate Pair 02.

“The vote acquisition difference between Petitioners [or Candidate Pair] 04 and Candidate Pair 02, who secured the highest number of votes, was caused, among other factors, by structured, systematic, and massive violations committed by Candidate Pair 02,” stated Didi.

Didi further argued that Candidate Pair 02, through abuse of authority by civil servant apparatus (ASN), village heads, heads of village consultative bodies (BPD), and hamlet heads across 11 regencies in Southeast Sulawesi had committed vote buying by distributing money and/or goods through campaign teams and volunteers, both openly and covertly. There was also an alleged violation by the polling station working committee (KPPS) at TPS 5 in Baruga Village in West Kendari District, Kendari City, where ballot papers were pre-marked in favor of Candidate Pair 02 before the election took place.

According to the Petitioners, the money politics was carefully planned and organized, involving the village government system from the village to hamlet levels, along with intimidation against voters. Furthermore, the widespread money politics across 11 out of 17 regencies in Southeast Sulawesi had a significant impact, influencing more than 50% of the votes in these districts, which contributed substantially to the vote acquisition of Candidate Pair 02.

According to the Petitioners, based on these violations, 775,183 votes for the Relevant Party should be considered invalid by the Southeast Sulawesi KPU as the Respondent. The KPU has determined the vote acquisition for the election: Candidate Pair 01 Ruksamin-Sjafei Kahar with 149,642 votes, Candidate Pair 02 Andi Sumangerukka-Hagua with 775,183 votes, Candidate Pair 03 Lukman Abunawas-Laode Ida with 246,393 votes, and Candidate Pair 04 Tina Nur Alam-La Ode Muh Ihsan Taufik Ridwan with 308,373 votes.

Hanura DPD Chairman’s Signature Forged

Additionally, the Petitioners alleged that the signature of the chairman of the Hanura DPD (regional representatives council) of Southeast Sulawesi on the B-KWK-Party form had been forged. Hanura (People’s Conscience Party) is one of the supporters of Candidate Pair 02. According to the Petitioners, the B-KWK-Party form for Candidate Pair 02 was not signed by said chairman. This suggests an administrative defect in the required document, which could render the candidate pair disqualified.

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Southeast Sulawesi KPU Decree No. 320 of 2024 on the vote count recapitulation of Candidate Pair 02 and to disqualify the pair. They also requested the Court to certify the correct vote acquisition as follows: Candidate Pair 01 with 149,642 votes, Candidate Pair 02 disqualified, Candidate Pair 03 with 246,393 votes, and Candidate Pair 04 with 308,373 votes. The Petitioners further requested an order for the Respondent to conduct a revote for the Southeast Sulawesi governor election at all polling stations in 13 regencies/cities in the province, with only three candidate pairs participating.

Author              : Mimi Kartika
Editor                : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                    : Fauzan Febriyan
Translators        : Nazila Rikhusshuba/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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