Iskandar testifying on behalf of Bawaslu at an examination hearing for the 2024 Bintan regent election case No. 217/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

---

Iskandar testifying on behalf of Bawaslu at an examination hearing for the 2024 Bintan regent election case No. 217/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another hearing for Case No. 217/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 concerning the dispute over the 2024 Bintan regent election results on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. The hearing was presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2 to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) as well as to validate evidence.

The Bintan Regency Elections Commission’s (Respondent) legal counsel Istiarta Fajar Purnama responded to the Petitioners’ argument that the Respondent had not performed its duties optimally, as shown by the low voter turnout. He argued that the low voter turnout in the 2024 Bintan regent election was caused by the running of one candidate pair without any opponent.

“One of the challenges for the Respondent in the regent-vice regent election when there is only one candidate pair is community participation,” he said.

However, Fajar said, the Respondent had carried out activities such as dissemination of information and/or education to voters to increase participation, as mandated by the KPU Regulation No. 9 of 2022. They had called for the community to come to the polls through Friday sermons for Muslims and other face-to-face activities.

Therefore, the Respondent requested the Court to reject the Petitioner’s petition in its entirety and to affirm the Respondent’s decree on the certification of the 2024 Bintan regent election results.

Also read: Petitioners Request Court Annulment of Bintan Regent Election Results

Meanwhile, through Totok Praseiyanto, Candidate Pair Roby Kurniawan and Deby Maryanti (Relevant Party) denied the Petitioners’ argument that the Relevant Party had not been supported by the majority of the people of Bintan Regency, after analysis on the blank vote. Totok said the blank vote phenomenon in the election is the implementation of the provisions of Article 54C of the Regional Election Law.

“The entire process of the 2024 Bintan regent-vice regent election has been carried out in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations by the KPU of Bintan Regency,” he said.

He also said that the Petitioners’ argument that the calculation of the victory of the candidate pair against the blank vote must be based on the number of permanent voter lists, not on the number of valid votes, is an argument that has no legal basis. This is because the Petitioners’ arguments or objections are not within the Court’s jurisdiction, as the Court reviews laws against the Constitution, while the Supreme Court reviews regulations under the law. Based on this, in their petitum, the Relevant Party requested the Court to reject the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety.

The Bintan Regency Bawaslu, represented by Iskandar, testified that they had only handled one finding related to state civil apparatus (ASN) neutrality of in the 2024 Bintan regent election. In addition, there were no reports or findings of violations and petition on dispute over the electoral process, including the distribution of door prizes at Golkar’s (Party of Functional Groups) anniversary, which the Petitioners argued.

Author               : Ahmad Sulthon Zainawi
Editor                : N. Rosi
Translator         : Dinita Aktivia/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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.

---