The Petitioners’ legal counsel Dhimas Pradana testifying in the regent election results dispute case No. 173/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani, Monday (1/13/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Bungo regent and vice regent candidate pair 1 Dedy Putra and Tri Wahyu Hidayat have filed a petition against the Bungo Regency KPU (Elections Commission) as the Respondent and candidate pair 2 Jumiwan Aguza and Maidani, alleging violations. The Petitioners requested the Court to order the Respondent to do a revote in the Bungo regent election.

“The Petitioners’ vote difference was caused by violations by the Respondent and candidate pair 2, which satisfy the requirement for a revote, which significantly affected the candidate pair’s electability,” explained the Petitioners’ legal counsel Heru Widodo at the preliminary hearing for case No. 173/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Monday, January 13, 2025. Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra chaired the hearing alongside Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani in panel 2 courtroom.

The Respondent has certified the vote count results, stipulating candidate pair 1 Dedy Putra-Tri Wahyu Hidayat with 94,782 votes and candidate pair 2 Jumiwan Aguza-Maidani with 95,876 votes. However, the Petitioners suspected that these results were influenced by violations by the Respondent and the Relevant Party, who obtained the most votes, which affected the vote counts of other candidate pairs.

The Petitioners claimed that the Respondent had allowed and facilitated ineligible voters, specifically those without resident ID cards to vote, which occurred in almost the entirety of Bungo Regency. This violates the provisions of Article 56 of the Regional Election Law (Pilkada Law).

The Petitioners mentioned various violations by the Respondent, including the polling station working committee (KPPS) marking 50 ballots, intimidating the Petitioners’ witnesses, directing elderly voters to vote for candidate pair 2, using the ballots of absentee voters, as well as recording prisoners and deceased voters as present. The Petitioners also suspected vote-buying by candidate pair 2 with Rp100,000 banknotes to residents of Tanjung Gedang Village in Pasar Muara Bungo District.

The Petitioners stated that candidate pair 2 is the nephew of the incumbent Bungo regent. The incumbent allegedly mobilized the state civil apparatus (ASN) to vote for candidate pair 2, involving rio (village heads) and the head of Bongo Regency’s Youth, Sports, and Tourism Office. This violation has been reported to the Bungo Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), who issued a recommendation to the National Civil Service Agency (BKN).

The Petitioners stated that the vote difference between them and the Relevant Party were due to violations at 64 polling stations in 33 villages. If the votes for the candidate pairs at these polling stations had been reduced, the Petitioner would have more votes than the Relevant Party.

In the petitums, the Petitioner requests the Court to annul the Bungo Regency KPU Decree No. 1469 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Bungo regent-vice regent election dated December 5, 2024 specifically the votes at 64 polling stations. The Petitioners also wish that the Court will order the Bungo KPU to carry out a revote at said polling stations.

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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