The Petitioners’ legal counsel Suwandi Arham testifying at the preliminary hearing for case No. 123/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 in panel 2 courtroom, before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani, Wednesday (1/15/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Pinrang regent-vice regent candidate pair 1 Ahmad Jaya Baramuli and Abdillah Natsir argued that there had been structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) vote-buying and civil apparatus (ASN) mobilization. These violations allegedly benefitted the Relevant Party, candidate pair 2 Irwan Hamid and Sudirman Bungi in the 2024 Pinrang regent election.

“The structured, systematic, and massive administrative violations were committed by the Relevant Party in at least six districts, or over 50 percent of all districts of Pinang Regency,” explained the Petitioner’s legal counsel Suwandi Arham at the preliminary hearing for case No. 123/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Wednesday, January 15, 2025.

The Petitioners described that Pinrang Regency consists of 65 hamlets, 39 villages, and 12 districts. The violations in 6 districts involved various government officials and civil apparatus, including village governments, hamlet heads, Pinrang regency government staff, assistant III of the regional secretary, and heads of offices, such as the offices of agriculture, food and horticultural crops, education and culture, and population and civil registry.

The Petitioners also argued that there were violations on election day by the Respondent across 179 polling stations in 11 districts of Pinrang Regency. These violations include double voters and voters without Pinrang or South Sulawesi Province resident IDs who voted at 179 polling stations, as evidenced by additional voter attendance lists.

The Petitioners also claimed the polling station working committee (KPPS) had deliberately withheld C-notification-KWK-forms (voter invitation letters) for supporters of candidate pair 1, resulting in low votes for said candidate pair. The Petitioners argued that these invitations were selectively distributed to favor candidate pair 2.

The Petitioners stated that while 513 voters were listed in the final voters list (DPT) of Wattang Suppa Village of Suppa District, only 408 C-notification-KWK-forms were distributed, leaving 105 voters without invitations. Despite this, 415 voters had cast ballots, along with 2 additional voters not listed in the DPT.

The Pinrang Regency KPU (Elections Commission) certified the vote results as follows: candidate pair 1 Ahmad Jaya Baramuli-Abdillah Natsir with 89,753 votes, candidate pair 2 A Irwan Hamid-Sudirman Bungi with 102,723 votes, and candidate pair 3 Usman Marham-A Hastri T Wello with 24,588 votes. In the petitums, the Petitioners request the Court to annul the Pinrang Regency KPU Decree No. 1198 of 2024 on the certification of Pinrang regent-vice regent election results. They also wish the Court will declare the correct votes according to their version: candidate pair 1 with 89,753 votes, candidate pair 2 with 0 votes, and candidate pair 3 with 24,588 votes. Alternatively, they request the Court to order the Respondent to do a revote at all polling stations in Pinrang Regency by only including candidate pairs 1 and 3.

Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani presided over the hearing on panel 2. Before the Petitioners presented the subject matter, the panel inquired about the change in their legal counsel.

The initial legal counsel for Petitioners was the Damang Negara Hukum & Partners. However, the revised petition was submitted by Tim Hukum JADI. Eko Saputra, representing Damang Negara Hukum & Partners, stated that Abdillah Natsir, one of the Petitioners, had not discussed this change with them.

Deputy Chief Justice Saldi acknowledged Eko Saputra’s objection, which will be considered by the Court. Despite that, the hearing then proceeded with the presentation of the subject matter.

Author              : Mimi Kartika
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.

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