Raitno and Muhammad Dedy, the Petitioners' legal counsels at the preliminary hearing of the Kendari mayoral election results dispute, Wednesday (1/15/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa

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JAKARTA (MKRI) —  Mayoral Candidate Pair 5 Abdul Rasak and Afdhal petitioned the annulment of the Kendari KPU (Elections Commission) decree on the annulment of the  certification of the mayoral election results. The preliminary hearing for Case No. 97/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1 on Wednesday, January 15, 2025.

The Petitioners' legal counsel Raitno mentioned that the current vote acquisition states that Candidate Pair 1 Siska Karina Imran–Sudirman obtains 61.831 votes,Candidate Pair 2 Yudhianto Mahardika Anton Timbang–Nirna Lachmuddin 41,044 votes, Candidate Pair 3 Sitya Giona Nur Alam–Subhan 19.419 votes, Candidate Pair 4 Aksan Jaya Putra–Andi Sulolipu 13,815 votes, and Candidate Pair 5 (Petitioners) 51,598 votes.

The Petitioners complained about the violations conducted by Candidate Pair 1, one of which is the appropriation of the logo of National Mandate Party in their campaign props. The Petitioners believe that it hurt their vote acquisition and therefore reported to the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). Bawaslu issued a recommendation and instructed to remove the campaign props, but the Relevant Party ignored it.

They argued there were violations in the form of distribution of cards with a certain amount of balance. "Candidate Pair Siska Karina Imran–Sudirman distributed "Onward Small and Medium Enterprises" (UKM Maju) cards

Raitno argued, "Candidate Pair 1 Siska Karina Imran-Sudirman distributed Onward SME cards worth Rp5 million and required the recipients to hand in their IDs in their voter basis. Candidate Pair 5 has also reported this to Bawaslu."

They also alleged the Relevant Party of a vote buying practice called "serangan fajar" or "dawn attacks" (lit.) on November 26, 2024 in which six envelopes containing Rp50,000 were distributed to voters in Padaleu Village, Kambu District. The same practice is also alleged in Kendari Permai Residence in the village. In addition, the Petitioners argued that Candidate Pair 1 had conducted a smear campaign on November 23, 2024 in front of Bahtera Mas Hospital, Kendari and Lepo-Lepo Detention Basin. Finally, there was an addition of voters who voted using their ID cards instead of C-6 forms in almost all polling stations on the election day, November 27, 2024.

Due to the violations alleged above, the Petitioners requested the Court to disqualify Candidate Pair 1 and declare the rectified vote acquisition as follows: Candidate Pair 1 with 0 votes, Candidate Pair 2 with 41,044 votes, Candidate Pair 3 with 19,419 votes, Candidate Pair 4 with 13,815 votes, and Candidate Pair 5 (Petitioners) with 51,598 votes.

The petition for Case No. 97/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 can be accessed here. 

Author : Sri Pujianti

Editor : N. Rosi

Translator : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/FS

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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