Binjai City Bawaslu witness Muhammad Yusuf Habibi testifying at the examination hearing for case No. 167/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the Binjai mayoral election dispute before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justice Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Friday (1/17/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Binjai City KPU (Elections Commission) as the Respondent stated that the petition No. 167/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on Binjai mayoral election results dispute had passed the deadline under Article 157 paragraph (5) of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Regional Head Elections (Pilkada Law) and the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 3 of 2024. The provisions require that the petition be submitted within three workdays from the time the Respondent announced the certification of the election results.

The Respondent stated that candidate pair 3 Donal Anjar Simanjuntak and Muhammad Andri Alfisah (Petitioners) should have filed the petition no later than December 6, 2024, at midnight western Indonesia time (WIB), since the Binjai City KPU had issued the Decree No. 495 of 2024 on the certification of the Binjai City mayor-vice mayor election results on December 4, 2024. However, the Petitioner submitted the petition to the Court on December 9, 2024 at 18:13 WIB, as stated in the Deed of Submission of electronic petition filing certificate (e-AP3) No. 169/PAN.MK/e-AP3/12/2024, or on the fourth day.

“The petition filed by the Petitioners has passed the submission deadline,” stated Abdul Rizal, the Respondent’s legal counsel. Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra presided over the hearing alongside Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani in panel 2 courtroom on Friday, January 17, 2025.

In addition, the Respondent stated that none of Petitioners’ arguments point to fraud, including vote counting and vote recapitulation, deflation and/or inflation of votes affecting the Petitioners. However, the petition’s main focus is force majeure due to heavy rain in Binjai City on election day.

Because of the flooding, the Binjai City KPU conducted a revote and recount in one district based on the recommendation letter of district election committee (PPK), which recommended a revote at 20 polling stations in Binjai Kota District, including 8 in Berngam Village, 8 in Pekan Binjai Village, and 4 in Setia Village.

The Binjai City KPU claimed that the revote and recount had followed the KPU Regulation No. 17 of 2024. They also clarified that the claim about the opening of the polling stations past the time limit was incorrect, as the polls had been delayed with agreement and/or no objections from the polling station supervisors and witnesses, based on statement letters from the polling station working committees (KPPS).

Candidate pair 4 Amir Hamzah-Hasanul Jihadi (Relevant Party) also testified at the hearing. Both the Respondent and the Relevant Party requested the Court to dismiss the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety and declare the Binjai City KPU Decree No. 495 legally valid and in effect.

In said decree, the Binjai City KPU certified the 2024 Binjai mayor-vice mayor vote acquisition results. Candidate pair 1 Tengku Rizki Ali Syahbana-Aulia Hardi gained 18,258 votes, candidate pair 2 Zainuddin Purba-Hendro Susanto obtained 31,673 votes, candidate pair 3 Donal Anjar Simanjuntak-Muhammad Andri Alfisah earned 34,992 votes, and candidate pair 4 Amir Hamzah-Hasanul Jihadi received 38,669 votes.

Also read: Binjai Mayoral Election Dispute: Flooding Caused Low Voter Participation

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Binjai City KPU Decree No. 495 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Binjai mayor-vice mayor election results dated December 4, 2024 and the Binjai City KPU Decree No. 490 of 2024 on revote and recount in the 2024 gubernatorial and Binjai mayoral election. The Petitioners also asked the Court to order the Binjai City KPU to do a revote of the mayor-vice mayor election in Binjai City.

On the other hand, the Binjai City Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) chair Muhammad Yusuf Habibi stated there had been no reports and/or findings of election violations and disputes on the vote acquisition in the 2024 Binjai mayoral election. During the recapitulation of vote results, a special incident occurred where the witness for candidate pair 3 refused to sign the minutes and the regency/city D-result- regent/mayor-KWK form and rejected the plenary meeting decision as they were not given the attendance list from 20 polling stations that conducted a revote.

Yusuf also stated there had been no reports and/or findings of election violations and election disputes over the argument of low voter turnout due to flooding. The Binjai City Bawaslu provided a recommendation letter to the Binjai City KPU, who subsequently issued a decree on a revote and recount and its implementation date.

Based on the supervision results of the district elections supervisory committee (Panwascam), the Binjai City Bawaslu noted that several polling stations had delayed their opening. In Mencirim Village of East Binjai District, polling stations opened at 09:00 WIB. In North Binjai District, voting and counting were delayed by about an hour, and in South Binjai District, polling stations opened late at 08:30 WIB. The Binjai City Bawaslu stated these delays were due to flooding at the polling stations.

The petition for case No. 167/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 can be accessed here.

Response by the Respondent

Testimony by Bawaslu

Testimony by the Relevant Party

Author               : Mimi Kartika
Editor                : N. Rosi
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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