The Respondent's legal counsel M. Wijaya S. (center) at the examination hearing for Case No. 162/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Donggala regent election results dispute, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Donggala KPU (Election Commission) as the Respondent presented its response in the election results dispute hearing for Case No. 162/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, which was filed by Candidate Pair 05 Mohammad Yasin-Syafiah (Petitioners). The Respondent's legal counsel M. Wijaya S., denied all the Petitioners’ allegations, including arguments that village officials were mobilized for vote buying or “money politics”.

The hearing, presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih on Panel 3, aimed to hear testimonies from the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, as well as to validate evidence. M. Wijaya S. addressed the Petitioners’ allegations, which included claims of bias involving village officials, compensation through the distribution of staple food, and instances of money politics that allegedly influenced the vote count results.

"According to the Respondent, this argument is not legally grounded and appears to be purely assumptive. Throughout the regent election stages, the Respondent never received any recommendation or decision from Bawaslu regarding the alleged issues. Similarly, regarding the claim of money politics, there has never been a report, Your Honor," said M. Wijaya S. in the plenary courtroom.

The Respondent argued that the Petitioners did not provide a detailed explanation regarding the alleged bias of village officials in influencing the vote acquisition results for Candidate Pair 03. Witnesses from all candidate pairs signed their names at each polling station where the Petitioners claimed violations occurred. However, during the vote recapitulation process at the district level, the Petitioners' witnesses did not sign their names, specifically in the districts of Balaesang and Sirenja.

"Balaesang District was not present (as a witness), Your Honor, so it was not signed. For Sirenja District, [the witness] didn’t sign it because of the instruction," added Wijaya.

Furthermore, there was a specific incident record during the vote recapitulation process at the regency level. The Head of the Donggala KPU, Nurbia, clarified that the Petitioners’ witnesses accepted the results of the recapitulation carried out by the KPU.

"The specific incident note at that time was that the Petitioners’ witness did not sign in principle to accept the results. It's just that the level of participation was disappointing, Your Honor," said Nurbia.

Candidate Pair 03 Vera Elena Laruni-Taufik M. Burhan (Relevant Party) denied all of the Petitioners’ arguments. Their legal counsel Arena Jaya Rahmat Parampasi conveyed that the Petitioners had made a unilateral claim regarding the vote count, which resulted in the Petitioners being declared the elected pair with the most votes.

He further argued that the Petitioners were also considered wrong and legally groundless in linking the alleged violations committed by the Relevant Party in correlation with the Petitioners’ vote acquisition. "[We] also reject the arguments and unilateral claims of the Petitioners a quo, which without a clear calculation basis stated that they were ranked first, without showing a clear description of the results of the calculation of the votes obtained," said Arena.

Meanwhile, chairperson of the Donggala Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) Abdul Salim said that Bawaslu received 13 reports. Four of these were followed up, but none were proven.

In addition, the Donggala Bawaslu also issued administrative sanctions in the form of a written warning to Tondo Village officials, who were suspected of lacking neutrality. However, they did not find any violations of money politics as alleged by the Petitioners.

The Petitioners’ petition raised three main points: the partiality of village officials, the provision of staple food as compensation, and money politics. The Petitioners argued that the difference in votes between Candidate Pair 03 and Candidate Pair 05 was caused by the bias of village officials. Additionally, they claimed that the vote difference was influenced by the provision of staple food, which the Relevant Party allegedly provided to the community before the determination of the Donggala regent election candidates in four districts and six villages.

Author  : Nawir Arsyad Akbar
Editor   : Tiara Agustina
Translator     : Nazila Rikhusshuba/FS

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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