Muslim Ansori (Petitioner) with legal counsel Imam Nasef at the examination hearing for the 2024 Bangka Belitung Islands regional election results dispute, Monday (1/20/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — As the Respondent, the Bangka Belitung Islands Provincial Elections Commission (KPU) delivered its response to the petition filed by Erzaldi-Yuri (Petitioners) on the gubernatorial election results dispute for Case No. 266/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025. They denied having received a recommendation of revote from the Bangka Belitung Islands Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). The rebuttal was expressed at the examination hearing to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu on Monday, January 20, 2025.

The hearing for the case was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1. The Petitioners in this case are Governor-Vice Governor Candidate Pair 1 Erzaldi Rosman and Yuri Kemal Fadlullah, while the Relevant Party are Candidate Pair 2 Hidayat Arsani and Hellyana.

The recommendation letter in dispute was that of Bangka Regency Bawaslu, which was sent to Bangka Regency KPU. However, at that time, according to the Respondent, the Bangka Regency Bawaslu had not explained in detail the location of the polling stations that needed a revote. The Bangka Regency KPU sent back an inquiry, yet received no response.

“So, in principle, because there was no clarity of the locations, [the report] cannot be followed up, Your Honors,” said Imam Nasef, the Respondent’s legal counsel.

Furthermore, the Respondent also clarified the allegation of duplicate voters in the final voters list (DPT) in response to the Petitioners’ arguments at the preliminary hearing. According to the Respondent, there were voters having similar names. Yet, those people are distinct individuals having different resident identity numbers (NIK).

They also asserted that the drafting of DPT involved all of the governor candidate pairs and the Provincial Bawaslu.

“There was no problem, Your Honors, thus the DPT can be certified. Mostly, [the people] in our rebuttal, they are two different people even though sharing the same name,” said Imam.

Opened Ballot Box

The Respondent also denied having violated the procedure by opening ballot box while voting was still ongoing, as the Petitioners alleged. The incident in question had happened at TPS 005 of Kejaksaan Village in Taman Sari District, Pangkalpinang City. According to the Respondent, the action was taken because there was a voter who had put their ballot paper into the wrong box.

“The mayoral election ballot was put into the ballot box of the gubernatorial election,” Imam explained.

The opening was also done to retrieve the incorrectly-entered ballot. Prior to that, the Respondent claimed there had been deliberation by the polling station working committee (KPPS), the polling station supervisory committee, as well as witnesses of all the governor candidate pairs. They claimed that there was no objection from any of the parties.

“So, more or less, those are the facts and there was no objection from the witnesses of the candidate pairs, even though the KPPS recorded an incident form,” he clarified.

Based on their response, the Respondent requested the Court to affirm the validity of the KPU Decree No. 77 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Bangka Belitung Islands gubernatorial election results.

The Bangka Belitung Islands Bawaslu concurred with the KPU and stated that they had never issued any recommendation for a revote.

“There was no recommendation, Your Honors,” said Davitri, a member of the Provincial Bawaslu.

Davitri explained that instead of a recommendation for a revote, they issued a request that the Bangka KPU examine the locations suspected of election violations.

In this case, the Provincial Bawaslu claimed to have examined and studied the sites, but found no circumstances that meet the elements under Article 112 of Law No. 1 of 2015.

“And also, at all the polling stations in Bangka Regency [the election results] were signed by the witnesses, both from the Petitioners and the Relevant Party,” Davitri explained.

In general, the Relevant Party conveyed similar points to those of the Bangka Belitung Islands KPU and Bawaslu. In the case of duplicate voters, they claimed it to be the Petitioners’ assumption.

“The Petitioners merely assume that the double voters alleged to be registered in the DPT for certain will exercise their voting rights for more than once. They could not give a definitive explanation of the arguments,” said Herdika Sukma Negara, the Relevant Party’s legal counsel.

Therefore, the Relevant Party requested the Court to affirm the validity of the Bangka Belitung Islands KPU Decree No. 77 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 gubernatorial election results.

Also read: Erzaldi-Yuri Expose Fraud at Bangka Belitung Polling Stations

At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, January 9, 2025, Candidate Pair 1 Erzaldi Rosman-Yuri Kemal Fadlullah (Petitioners) had revealed fraudulent practices in the 2024 Bangka Belitung Islands gubernatorial election before the Court.

They argued that Bangka Belitung Islands KPU as Respondent had committed fraudulent practices and violations at several polling stations (TPS) in the province.

They also argued that the KPPS had not checked listed voters’ electronic ID cards and the C-model forms. The Petitioners found many voters casting their votes outside their listed polling stations without showing voting relocation letters from the local polling committee (PPS).

Another fraudulent practice alleged by the Petitioners is duplicate voter data at various polling stations in Bangka Belitung Islands Province. The Petitioners also said that several ballot boxes had been opened while voting was still ongoing.

Also read:

The Petition for Case No. 266/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025

Response by the Respondent

Statement by Bawaslu

Statement by the Relevant Party

Author            : Ashri Fadilla
Editor             : N. Rosi
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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