Voters in West Pasaman Had to Cross Islands to Vote
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Legal counsel Aermadepa at the preliminary hearing for at the West Pasaman regent election results dispute case 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, Friday (1/10/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.


JAKARTA (MKRI) Difficulties experienced by voters when voting made into the argument for the petition for the 2024 West Pasaman regent election results dispute. The petition for Case Number 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 was read out at the preliminary hearing on Friday, January 10, 2025 before Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah.

The Petitioners in this case are West Pasaman Regent-Vice Regent Candidate Pair Number 2 Daliyus and Heri Miheldi, represented by their legal counsel, Aermadepa. The Respondent is the West Pasaman Regency KPU (Elections Commission) while the Relevant Party is Candidate Pair Number 1 Yulianto and M. Ihpan.

In their petition, the Petitioners highlighted the low voter turnout. “There were 128,240 voters who did not exercise their voting rights. This means that more than 41 percent of voters registered in the final voters list did not exercise their voting rights,” said Aermadepa when reading out the arguments of the petition.

According to the Petitioners, the low voter turnout was because the Respondent had compiled the list without fulfilling basic principles. This resulted in many voters having to exercise their right to vote at polling stations (TPS) outside of their domicile.

According to the Petitioners, some voters had to travel long distances of up to 20 kilometers and cross islands to reach their polling stations. “Some were different districts with a distance between the district where the voters were registered and those where they have to vote or where the polls were located was up to 20 kilometers. Some even had to cross islands, which made it impossible for voters to reach the polls,” Aermadepa argued.

Other than the distance of the polling stations, the Petitioners also argued about the number of voters who did not get voting invitations or C-notification forms from the KPU. They also claimed to have evidence for it.

“Their voting rights are very important to the Petitioners. However, because they did not receive voting invitations or C-notification forms, they could not cast their vote. So, there is an indication that they were deliberately deprived of their voting rights by the Respondent,” Aermadepa stated.

Based on those arguments, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the West Pasaman KPU decree regarding the certification of the 2024 West Pasaman regent election results. They also requested that the Court order the KPU to conduct a revote no later than two months after a Court decision is issued after the polling stations are adjusted to match the voters’ domicile.

Read also the petition for Case Number 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025.

Author            : Ashri Fadilla.
Editor            : N. Rosi
Translators     : Dinita Aktivia/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.


Friday, January 10, 2025 | 15:28 WIB 41