The Petitioners’ legal counsel Martua Hendry Siallagan testifying for the regent election results dispute case No. 214/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Tuesday (1/14/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) —Samosir regent candidate pair 1 Freddy Lamhot P. Situmorang dan Andreas Bolivi Simbolon (Lamhot-Simbolon) objected to their vote difference with candidate pair 2 Vandiko Tomotius Gultom dan Ariston Tua Sidauruk (Vadiko-Aris) in the Samosir regent-vice regent election. The Petitioners suspected the buying of C6 forms at polling stations (TPS).

Lamhot-Simbolon (Petitioners) presented the argument at the preliminary hearing for case No. 214/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 in panel 2 courtroom on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.

The Petitioners’ legal counsel Martua Henry Siallagan explained that the C6 form-buying by Vadiko-Aris campaign team had affected their votes at TPS 02 in Nainggolan Village of Nainggolan District. The Petitioners argued their votes had been reduced by 4 due to this practice.

“The campaign team of candidate pair 2 bought Elections Commission (KPU) invitations, resulting in the absence of voters for candidate pair 1,” explained Siallagan when inquired by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair).

On the other hand, the C6 form buying at all polling stations of Samosir Regency resulted in a significant increase of votes for Vadiko-Aris. The Petitioners found that without this practice, they would have received 50,000 votes, while Vandiko-Aris would have received only 30,090 votes.

Siallagan also explained that the forms were priced between Rp300,000 to Rp600,000 to prevent the Petitioners’ voters from coming to the polls. Besides this, there was also vote buying of Rp400,000 and monetary rewards of Rp500,000 aiming to significantly increase votes for Vadiko-Aris.

As such, in the petitum, the Petitioners requested the Court to order the Samosir Regency KPU to do a revote at all polling stations in Samosir Regency by excluding Valdiko-Aris.

Author              : Ahmad Sulthon Zainawi
Editor                : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                     : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator         : Ryan Alfian/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.

---