The Petitioner's legal counsel Hendrik Tomasoa and Michael Himan at the Preliminary Examination hearing of Case Number 309/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 concerning the Central Papua Governor Election Results Dispute. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.
JAKARTA, MKRI - Candidates for Governor and Deputy Governor of Central Papua Number 1 Wempi Wetipo and Agustinus Anggaibak as Petitioners of the Central Papua Governor Election Results Dispute, Case Number 309/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025, brought up the issue of delayment in the announcement of vote count recapitulation results. The argument was read out in the Preliminary Hearing Courtroom that was presided over by panel 1 Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on Thursday, January 16, 2025.
Wempi Wetipo and Agustinus Anggaibak (Petitioners) claimed the (KPU of Central Papua Province) Respondent's delay was a form of a violation in a structured, systematic, and massive manner.
“The delay in the announcement of the vote count recapitulation is an indication of structured, systematic, and massive violations in the Central Papua Province voting process,” stated Michael Himan (Petitioners’s legal counsel).
The Violation according to the Petitioners was because the Respondent did not explain the reason for the vote recapitulation announcement delay. The recapitulation should have been announced on December 15, but instead, it was delayed until December 18, 2024.
“Even though there has been dispensation many times from the Central KPU,” stated Michael.
The Respondent was also reported to have stayed at the same hotel as another candidate at the Mahavira Nabire Hotel. During that time, the Respondent, the Central Papua KPU, was conducting a plenary meeting on the results of the vote recapitulation for Puncak and Puncak Jaya Regencies.
“This then caused chaos when Candidate Number 4 could be in the plenary room and doing intervention in the ongoing plenary,” stated Michael.
Regarding vote acquisition, the Petitioners claimed that the votes gained in the areas with a one-man-one-vote system were high. However, in areas that used the noken system, the vote gain was low. The Petitioners show an example of his vote gain results in Mimika Regency is 64,911 votes and Nabire Regency is 27,369 votes.
Then specifically in two districts, Puncak and Paniai Regencies, the Petitioners also argued the position of two other candidate pairs who were former regents, the Petitioners accused other candidate pairs of having committed structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations in the election.
The petitioners also argued to be blocked during the campaign period, specifically in Dogiyai, Deiyai, and Paniai Regencies. The Petitioners even claimed to have been asked for money at the time.
“Rp 1 billion was requested [to the Petitioners] just to pass the public road for the campaign allegedly carried out by participants in the 2024 Central Papua Province regional head election,” he claimed.
The Petitioners through its petitum request the Court to cancel the Certification of Result of The 2024 Election of Governor and Deputy Governor of Central Papua Province, Number 461 of 2024.
The Petitioners also requested that the Court disqualify the two candidate pairs at once, Candidate Pair Number 3, Meki Nawipa and Deinas Geley, and Candidate Pair Number 4, Willem Wandik and Aloisius Giyai.
The Petitions for Dispute of The 2024 Central Papua Province Election Result were also filed by two other Candidate Pairs which consists of Candidate Pair Number 4, Willem Wandik, and Aloisius Giyai (Case Number 295/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025), Candidate Pair Number 2, Natalis Tabuni and Titus Natkime (Case Number 308/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025).
Read The Petitions on The Central Papua Election Dispute:
Author : Ashri Fadilla.
Editor : N. Rosi.
Translators : Dinta Aktivia/FS (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.
Thursday, January 16, 2025 | 15:46 WIB 182