The Respondent’s legal counsel Septiani (second from right) at the examination hearing on the Ogan Ilir regent election results dispute case No. 129/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, Friday (1/17/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Ogan Ilir Regency KPU (Elections Commission) as Respondent denied not updating the final voters list (DPT) in the regent election, as delivered by their legal counsel Septiani at the examination hearing for Case No. 129/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Friday, January 17, 2025.

The examination hearing to hear the responses from the Respondent, Relevant Party, and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) and to validate evidence was presided over by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih on panel 3. At the hearing, Septiani asserted that the Respondent had updated the voters’ data in accordance with Article 2 of KPU Regulation No. 7 of 2024 on the certification of the final voters list in the regional election.

“It is not true that the Respondent, in finalizing the DPT, failed to cross-check the data in the regions of Ogan Ilir Regency,” Septiani argued.

She continued that the Petitioner could not prove the community’s loss of voting rights in the election. The Respondent claimed the argument of the Petitioner, who is the chair of the South Sumatera election watch organization BP2SS of Ogan Ilir, was based on mere suspicion and assumption.

The Ogan Ilir KPU made sure to complete all the phases of drafting and updating the voters’ data by establishing and appointing voters data update committee (Pantarlih) whose responsibility is stated in Article 13 paragraph (4) letters h, i, and j of KPU Regulation No. 7 of 2024.

“Therefore, the Respondent would respond that the Petitioner could not prove the violations and frauds as argued,” Septiani concluded.

Meanwhile, the Relevant Party’s legal counsel Welly Angga Nugraha expressed that the Petitioner’s argument on the absence of data update is unfounded. The Petitioner, he said, had not mentioned the details about the locations and polling stations in which the voters lists were not up-to-date.

Welly argued that the Petitioner had not specified the regions where residents had lost their voting rights and underaged minors had been added to DPT. “Thus, the arguments of the a quo Petitioner are obscure. Therefore, [it] must be dismissed,” he demanded.

He also noted that Article 28 of KPU Regulation No. 7 of 2024 states that the recapitulation and the certification of temporary voters list (DPS) are held at a public plenary meeting attended by the district polling committees (PPK), the regency/city Bawaslu, the regional leadership coordination forums (Forkopimda), election observers, and/or the candidate pairs’ campaign teams.

“The Petitioner was a participant of the plenary meeting who should have been able to inspect and suggest corrections to the DPS, which is the object of discussion at that plenary meeting,” said Welly.

The Petitioner alleged that the Relevant Party had abused their authority in the Ogan Ilir Regency Government to disarm the election organizers’ independence and manipulate the candidacy requirements. However, Welly disputed any facts or data pointing to those allegations.

Bawaslu: No Reports Filed

Bawaslu also testified at the hearing. Ogan Ilir Bawaslu member Muhammad Uzer stated that they had not received any reports related to the Petitioner’s arguments. Nevertheless, they carried out their monitoring and violation prevention duties throughout the regent election, one of which was the issuance of Notification Letter No. 500/PM.00.02/K.SS-08/11/2024 on November 30, 2024. The letter prompted the Ogan Ilir KPU to conduct a vote count recapitulation and election results certification according to the applicable laws and regulations.

“During the voters data update phase, the Ogan Ilir Bawaslu took preventative actions by issuing 11 notification letters,” Uzer recounted.

The Petitioner Desva Adelia Rachmadani is the chair of BP2SS of Ogan Ilir. In her petition, she revealed to have discovered data showing that the Ogan Ilir KPU had violated the law by failing to thoroughly cross-check the voters list in person through the remote areas in Ogan Ilir Regency. The evidence also indicated that the Ogan Ilir KPU had failed to cross-check and recheck over the data of voters who were deceased, underaged, or relocated.

The violation ultimately led to a loss of constitutional rights of some voters in Ogan Ilir. People under the age of 17, on the contrary, could vote in the regency election. This has caused a decrease in voter turnout among those listed in the final voters list (DPT).

Also read: Election Observers Question KPU’s Failure to Update Voter Data in Ogan Ilir Regent Election

Author           : Nawir Arsyad Akbar
Editor              : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Tiara Agustina
Translator      : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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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