Petrus Ohoitimur (right), the Petitioners’ legal counsel, at the preliminary hearing of the Nabire regent election results dispute case No. 252/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, Wednesday (1/15/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Regent Candidate Pair 1 Martinus Adii-Agus Suprayitno have petitioned the annulment of the Nabire Regency KPU (Elections Commission) Decree No. 580 of 2024 on the argument that their rival, Candidate Pair 2 Mesak Magai-Burhanuddin Pawennari (Relevant Party), had abused their authority as incumbents.

The preliminary hearing for Case No. 252/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 was presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih on panel 3 on Wednesday, January 15, 2025. The election in question was participated by two pairs, in which Candidate Pairs 1 and 2 acquired 43,936 and 73,049 votes respectively.

The Petitioners’ legal counsel Petrus Ohoitimur mentioned several instances of authority abuse, the first of which had occurred on October 27, 2024 when Mesak Magai ceremonially awarded Rp1 billion to the construction committee of Imanuel Church, Kota Lama, Nabire during the campaign period.

The donation breached the regulation in place since Magai had been on campaign leave as of September 17, 2024 as per Statement Letter No. 100.1.2/1246-2/PPT. “Thus, Mesak should have not been allowed to award donations on behalf of the Nabire Regency Government because he was on a campaign leave,” Ohoitimur explained.

Magai was also alleged to have issued appointment letters to category 2 non-tenured officers, which had never been issued before.

“At the moment of the distribution of the appointment letters taking place during election silence, category 2 non-tenured officers and Regent Candidate 2, the incumbent regent, collectively yelled the campaign chants of Candidate Pair 2,” Ohoitimur alleged.

Involvement of District Heads, Village Apparatus, and ASN

Ohoitimur mentioned that village heads and civil state apparatus (ASN) had been involved since the beginning of the campaign period. For instance, the village head and ASN of SP B Wanggar Sari Village had been involved in the installation of campaign props.

As an incumbent, Magai had allegedly involved the regency’s head of Nation and Political Unity Office (Kesbangpol) in his campaign in Air Mandidi Hamlet. Ohoitimur noted that as a state apparatus, the head of Kesbangpol should not have attended the campaign.

Candidate Pair 2 also had meetings with the district head and the health department head of Nabire, whom the Petitioners believe to be actively participating in the campaign.

Ohoitimur believes that the Nabire regent election should no longer implement the noken* system in the polling, as mandated by the Constitutional Court Decision No. 06-32/PHPU-DPD/XII/2014. Yet, two polling stations in Teluk Kimi District still employed the system.

“As we have strong legal grounds, the Petitioners request that the Court examine the a quo petition to annul the Nabire KPU Decree No. 580 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 regent election results,” Ohoitimur demanded.

In their petitums, the Petitioners request the Court to annul the Nabire KPU decree and to declare the vote acquisition as follows: Martinus Adii-Agus Suprayitno with 73,049 votes and Mesak Magai-Burhanuddin Pawennari with 43,936 votes. They also requested that the Court disqualify election winners Mesak Magai and Burhanuddin Pawennari.

Furthermore, they asked the Court to order the Nabire KPU to certify Martinus Adii-Agus Suprayitno as the elected regent and vice regent. “[The Petitioners request the Court] to instruct the KPU to carry out a revote in Nabire Regency,” said Pe Ohoitimur trus.

*The noken voting system is carried out by communities in Papua, either through public agreement on vote allocation or through the delegation of votes to a tribal leader.

Author         : Nawir Arsyad Akbar
Editor           : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR               : Tiara Agustina
Translator    : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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