The Petitioners’ legal counsel Ridwan Syaidi Tarigan delivering his statement at the preliminary hearing of the West Pesisir regent election results dispute, Friday (1/13/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Regent Candidate Pair 2 Septi Heri Agusnaeni and Ade Abdul Rochim (Septi-Ade) argued the votes acquired by Candidate Pair 1 Dedi Irawan and Irawan Topani (Dedi-Irawan) were obtained through massive use of money politics. The preliminary hearing for the Case Number 38/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the West Pesisir regent election results dispute was presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2 on Monday, January 13, 2025 in the Constitutional Court (MK).

The Petitioners alleged Dedi-Irawan of vote buying in ten villages and one district throughout the regent election. The pervasive use of money politics, they argued, impacted their vote acquisition. In other words, the Petitioners’ defeat as shown by the recapitulation results issued by the West Pesisir KPU (Elections Commission) was due to the massive case of vote buying by Dedi-Irawan.

The Petitioners claimed that they had reported the violation orally to polling station supervisors, but none of the supervisors in ten villages and 1 districts followed up on the report. Dedi-Irawan was believed to have undermined the election; thus, the Petitioners requested that the Court disqualify the pair.

“These incidents of money politics have undermined the regional election of West Pesisir, Lampung Province, therefore Candidate Pair 1 should be disqualified,” Ridwan Syaidi Tarigan, the legal counsel, stated.

The Petitioners also requested that the Court declare them as the winner of the most votes in the 2024 West Pesisir regent election.

The petition for Case No. 38/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 can be accessed here.

Author            : Ahmad Sulthon Zainawi
Editor            : N. Rosi
Translators     : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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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