Legal counsels Muhammad Taufan Achmad and Moin Tualeka at the preliminary hearing for Case No. 27/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025, Tuesday (1/14/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The replacement of the vice mayor candidate pair 02 from La Ode Muhammad Apriyadi to Muhammad Ridwan was conducted without any public announcement as required by Articles 125 and 126 of the KPU (General Elections Commission) Regulation No. 8 of 2024. This issue was raised by Candidate Pair 05 Nur Ari Raharja-La Ode Yasin before the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. The preliminary hearing for Case No. 27/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 addressing the 2024 Baubau mayoral election results dispute was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1.

The Petitioners’ legal counsel M. Taufan Achmad argued that the KPU’s (Respondent) action was formally flawed, particularly concerning the replacement of the vice mayor candidate for Independent Candidate Pair 02 Yulia Rahman-La Ode Muhammad Apriyadi. This replacement involved fulfilling the B-1 KWK individual model form for Yulia Rahman-Muhammad Ridwan. However, Candidate Pair 02 had previously undergone both first-stage administrative and factual verification and were deemed to have met the requirements, securing 10,115 out of the 11,665 statements of support submitted. This left approximately 700 statements in the first stage.

“In the second stage, the vice mayor candidate was replaced with Muhammad Ridwan. The Respondent was obligated to announce this change publicly through the official websites of the provincial KPU and the regency/city KPU. However, no such announcement was made, even up to the point when the winner of the mayoral election was declared,” explained Taufan.

Taufan revealed that Candidate Pair 01 La Ode Ahmad Monianse–Ida Fitri Halili received 11,007 votes; Candidate Pair 02 Yulia Rahman–Muhammad Ridwan received 24,270 votes; Candidate Pair 03 Yusran Fahim–Wa Ode Hamsinah Bolu received 31,966 votes; Candidate Pair 04 La Ode Mustari–Zahari received 8,384 votes; and the Petitioners received 6,043 votes.

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to declare the Baubau City KPU Decree No. 518 of 2024 dated December 3, 2024 regarding the certification of the 2024 Baubau mayoral election results invalid and unlawful, and to annul it. They also requested that the certification of Individual Candidate Pair 02 Yulia Rahman–Muhammad Ridwan in the same election be deemed invalid and unlawful. Lastly, they requested the Court to order the Baubau City KPU to conduct a re-verification of Vice Mayor Candidate 02 La Ode Muhammad Apriyadi.

The petition for Case No.  27/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 can be accessed here.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : N. Rosi
Translator  : Syifa Amelia/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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