Legal counsel Akhmad Leksono testifying at the regent election results dispute hearing for Case No. 298/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Monday (1/13/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – Paniai regent-vice regent candidates 03 Nason Uti and Jhon Deki Yogi revealed that Paniai Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) had issued a recommendation to the Paniai KPU (Elections Commission) to cancel the plenary meeting for the vote count recapitulation at the regency level. However, the Petitioners stated that the recommendation was not seriously implemented by the Paniai KPU.

“The serious violations outlined in the recommendation letter from the Paniai Bawaslu should have been addressed by the Paniai KPU. However, it was evident that the Paniai KPU did not take this matter seriously,” stated the Petitioners’ legal counsel on Case No. 298/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 at the preliminary examination hearing for the Paniai regent election results dispute at the Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday, January 13, 2025. The hearing was presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2.

The Petitioners explained that on December 11, 2024, Bawaslu had sent a recommendation to the Paniai KPU to cancel the plenary vote count recapitulation meeting at the KPU level. This recommendation was made due to disruption caused by conflicts between the witnesses for governor/regent/mayor candidates, Paniai KPU members, Paniai Bawaslu members, and district election committees (PPK) from 24 districts, which led to chaos during the vote count recapitulation process in Paniai.

This situation has harmed the democratic process and violated the voting rights of citizens, particularly concerning the local wisdom noken* system used in Paniai regent elections. The Paniai Bawaslu requested the Paniai KPU chairperson to immediately cancel the plenary meeting for the vote recapitulation at the regency level, covering all governor, regent, and mayor election, which involved 115,424 voters across 307 polling stations in 208 villages and 24 districts in Paniai Regency.

On December 14, 2024, the Paniai Bawaslu sent another recommendation letter to the Paniai KPU, urging the immediate cancellation of the plenary session to determine the vote recapitulation results at the regency level. Bawaslu also requested the Paniai KPU to re-accommodate the results based on community agreements at the polling station level at 230 polling stations across 164 villages and 19 districts out of the 24 districts in the regency.

The Paniai KPU reported the vote acquisition as follows: Candidate Pair 01 Yan Piet Nawipa-Ham Yogi with 54,763 votes (Relevant Party), Candidate Pair 02 Rooby Kayame-Hengki Kudiai with 10,761 votes, Candidate Pair 03 Nason Uti-Jhon Deki Yogi with 24,894 votes, Candidate Pair 04 Thomas Yeimo-Yeri Adii with 23,490 votes, and Candidate Pair 05 Ottopianus Gobai-Deki Nawipa with 1,516 votes. However, the Petitioners contended that the correct vote count for Candidate Pair 03 should be 43,364 votes, as there was a reduction in votes for the pair and an increase for the Relevant Party.

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Paniai KPU Decree No. 48 of 2024 on the certification of the Paniai regent election vote acquisition dated December 14, 2024 and to certify the correct vote acquisition as follows: Candidate Pair 01 with 23,082 votes, Candidate Pair 02 with 17,395 votes, Candidate Pair 03 with 43,364 votes, Candidate Pair 04 with 18,271 votes, and Candidate Pair 05 with 7,316 votes. Additionally, they requested the Court to order the Paniai KPU to conduct a revote across all polling stations, villages, and districts in the regency and to instruct the Central KPU to replace all Paniai KPU commissioners.

*The noken voting system is carried out by communities in Papua, either through public agreement on vote allocation or through the delegation of votes to a tribal leader.

Author         : Mimi Kartika
Editor           : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR               : Fauzan Febriyan
Translators  : Nazila Rikhusshuba/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL) (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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