Timotius J. Altin Rembet, the Petitioners' legal counsel at the preliminary hearing for Case Number 108/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 concerning the South Buru regent election results dispute, Monday (1/13/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Regent Candidate Pair 3 Safitri Malik Soulisa-Hemfri Lesnussa filed a request of annulment of the South Buru KPU (Elections Commission) decree on the certification of the regent election results. As Petitioners, they argued the indications of the legitimate votes being contaminated by illegitimate ones.

The preliminary hearing for Case Number 108/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 was presided over by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih on panel 3 on Monday, January 13, 2024. The election in question was participated by three pairs, namely Candidate Pair 1 La Hamidi-Gerson Eliaser Selsily with 14,550 votes, Candidate Pair 2 Abdul Haris Wally-Elisa Ferianto Lesnusa with 12,252 votes, and Candidate Pair 3 (Petitioners) with 14.173 votes. This contrasted the Petitioners' independent count, which stated 12,887 for themselves and 12,087 for Candidate Pair 1.

There were at least 14 polling stations in which the violation could significantly impact the election. Such polling stations were spread across Leksula and Waemulang Villages in Leksula District, Nanali, Pasir Putih, and Bala-Bala Villages in Kepala Madan District, and Labuang Village in Namrole District.

Indications of violation were found in Polling Station 2 of Leksula Village, in which people not listed in the final voters list (DPT) were still able to vote; the district election committee let in six unregistered people to vote.

A similar case happened in Polling Station 1 of Waemulang Village, in which two people voted using IDs of Ambon City. The head of Waemulang Village Polling Committee (PPS) acknowledged their error in the district-level plenary recapitulation.

"In Leksula Village, in Polling Station 2, there were voters from Ambon City who were not residents of South Buru Regency who voted in Polling Station 2. There were also six people who were allowed by the Regency Polling Committee to vote using Family Cards," Timotius, the legal counsel, revealed.

In the table attached in the petition, there are 4,884 votes that were suspected to be resulted by violations. Specifically, the Candidate Pairs 1, 2, and 3 respectively earned 2,463, 1,125, and 1,296 unlawful votes.

The Petitioners believe, if those votes were to be removed, the vote count recapitulation would result in Candidate Pair 1 having 12,087 votes, Candidate Pair 2 11,127 votes, and Candidate Pair 3 12,887 votes.

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the South Buru KPU Decree No. 703 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 regent election results dated December 4, 2024 or that the Court annul that decree as far as it concerns the vote acquisition in the Polling Station/Election Committee of Leksula District.

Furthermore, they requested the Court to rule the vote acquisition as follows: Candidate Pair 1 La Hamidi-Gerson Eliaser Selsi with 12,087 votes, Candidate Pair 2 Abdul Haris Wally-Elisa Ferianto Lesnusa with 11,127 votes, and Candidate Pair 3 (Petitioners) with 12,877 votes.

Author : Nawir Arsyad Akbar

Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.

PR : Tiara Agustina

Translator : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin / FS (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.

---