Bima City KPU Refutes Allegations of Double Voting

The Bawaslu member, Idhar testifying in the examination hearing of case No. 41/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the mayoral election result dispute in panel 2 courtroom, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra accompanied by Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Bima City Election Commission (KPU), serving as the Respondent in Case No. 41/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025, firmly denied the allegation of 38,244 double voters in the final voter list (DPT), based on identical names, gender, age, and birthplace. Following a review of the evidence on January 13, 2025, the Respondent concluded that the documents submitted by the Petitioners were falsified and not issued by the Bima City KPU.

“As such, the Respondent viewed the evidence invalid,” stated the Respondent legal counsel, Ahmad in the examination hearing of mayoral election result dispute in panel 2 courtroom, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.

The Respondent conducted a duplicate analysis through the Voters Data Information System (Sidalih) which identified 1,140 potential double voters. Further factual verification through the Population Administration Information System (SIAK) revealed that 818 voters remained in Bima City, while 322 voters no longer resided in the city and were subsequently removed from the Bima City voters list.

The Respondent considers the Petitioners mistakenly read the data by not including the National Identity Numbers. To identify a duplicate, data such as identity numbers, names, birthplaces, and sex must be included. While there could be similarities in identity details, the national identity numbers are always unique.

he Respondent also refuted the argument that double voters cast multiple votes in 21 polling stations. During the voting and vote counting, no issues as described by the Petitioners were observed, including during the recapitulation at district and Bima city levels.

The Respondent stated that the Petitioners witness signed the C-result forms in all polling stations, including the said 21 polling stations. However, for the district recapitulation result, the Petitioners’ witness did not sign the C-result form in Asakota district, one of five districts in Bima City.

In addition, the Bima City mayor-vice mayor candidate pair 1, Arahman and Feri Sofiyan (the Relevant Party) stated that the Petitioners candidate pair 2 (Mohammad Rum and Mutmainnah) did not explain the connection between double voters and a revote request. The Petitioners also did not explain the violations in 21 polling stations that should result in a revote.

The Relevant Party also denied the allegation that candidate pair 2’s campaign was obstructed by the volunteers of candidate pair 1. According to the Relevant Party, the Petitioners did not clearly explain the time and place where the obstruction happened nor the results of such allegations, making it difficult for the Relevant Party to respond.

“The above incident was reported to the Bima City Election Supervisory (Bawaslu) and Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu) but was not further investigated as there were no violations,” stated Sutrisno, the Relevant Party’s legal counsel in a hearing chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, accompanied by Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani.

Meanwhile, Bima City Bawaslu member Bima Idhar stated that the elections supervisory committee of West Rasanae found an allegation of obstruction and/or disturbance of candidate pair 2’s campaign outreach. As a result, Bima City Bawaslu took over and registered the criminal election violation reported by Asrawati. This finding was examined with Bima City Gakkumdu and addressed by the election supervisors and investigated by the police.

Bima City Bawaslu prepared an assessment explaining that the finding constituted a criminal election violation under Article 187 paragraph (4) of Pilkada Law and reported it to Bima City Police (Polres Bima Kota). However, in the second discussion with Gakkumdu, the investigator from Bima City Police and the Head of General Criminal Section of the Raba Bima District Attorney concluded that the finding did not meet Article 187 paragraph (4) which reads, “deliberately disrupting, obstructing, or interfering with the campaign” as the campaign for candidate pair 2 was still ongoing according to the campaign notification letter and was not hindered by Tanjung village members who were exercising and wearing the candidate pair 1’s campaign uniform during the campaign outreach of candidate pair 2.

Idhar continued, Bima City Bawaslu noted 23 reports on violation allegations in the 2024 Bima City mayoral election. The Petitioners reported 8 of these reports, including the allegations of double voters and multiple votes cast. However, none of these reports constituted an election violation.

“None of the reports fulfilled the element [of election violations],” emphasized Idhar.

News

Bima City KPU Refutes Allegations of Double Voting