The Respondent’s legal counsel Hepri Yadi in the examination hearing for the Lahat Regency election results dispute, on Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – Allegations of fraud in the voting process, as argued by the Petitioners in Case No. 176/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, were refuted by the Respondent during the examination hearing on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. The Petitioners are Candidate Pair 01 Yulius Maulana–Budiarto, while the Respondent is the Lahat Regency KPU (Elections Commission).

The examination hearing concerning the 2024 Lahat Regency election results dispute was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justice Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1 to hear the Respondent’s response, the testimony of the Relevant Party and Bawaslu, and approving evidence from the parties.

Overall, the Respondent denied all fraud allegations in the petition, including the discrepancy in the administrative recording of vote counting and the absence of an attendance list in the ballot box.

In this regard, the Respondent asserts that the process was done following the provisions. "The voting and vote counting process at the polling stations (TPS), as mentioned by the Petitioners, was carried out under applicable laws and regulations," stated Hepriyandi, the Respondent's legal counsel.

The Respondent also refuted the allegation of an unsealed ballot box. They believe that the ballot box delivery from polling stations has followed the procedure, including the polling station supervisory committee’s oversight and the stored ballot box was under supervision from the subdistrict election supervisory committee and police.

"Therefore, the petition's argument that there were ballot boxes presented during the Plenary Session at the PPK [district election committee] was not true," said Hepriyadi.

The Relevant Party, Candidate Pair 02 Bursah Zarnubi–Widia Ningsih stated that all allegations were not true, including the discrepancy in the administrative recording of vote counting. They believed that the Petitioners did not clearly explain the location and time of the event in question.

Furthermore, the Relevant Party said that the administrative issue has already been resolved, and therefore, it should not be brought before the Court. "The Petitioners should not use this hearing in the Court to air all the administrative issues of the election, especially when these issues fall under the authority of another institution," stated Dudy Agung Trisna, the Relevant Party’s legal counsel.

Therefore, in their respective petitums, the Respondent and the Relevant Party requested the Court to affirm the validity of the Lahat Regency KPU Decree No. 3308 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 Lahat Regency election results.

Meanwhile, the Lahat Regency Bawaslu was asked by the Court to explain the results of the supervision during the stages of the 2024 Lahat Regency election. The Head of Lahat Bawaslu, Nana Priana confirmed that no recommendations for a revote were issued during the 2024 Lahat Regency election.

However, Lahat Bawaslu did send a reply letter to one of the candidate pairs. The letter essentially stated that the decision regarding the implementation of the revote was to be referred back to the Lahat Regency KPU.

“Lahat Regency Bawaslu only replied to the letter regarding the revote petition sent by candidate pair’s campaign team,” said Nana.

Also read: Unsealed Ballot Boxes Revealed in Lahat Regent Election

In the preliminary hearing on Thursday, January 9, 2025, the Petitioners presented a petition citing several issues related to administrative errors, including discrepancies between the voter attendance list and the number of valid votes cast, empty voter attendance lists, and the absence of attendance lists in the ballot boxes. They also highlighted ballot boxes that were unsealed after voting and counting at the polling stations.

Based on the arguments presented, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Lahat KPU decree on the certification of the 2024 Lahat regent election results. They also requested the Court to order the Respondent to conduct a revote at all polling stations in districts across Lahat Regency. 

The Petition for Case No. 176/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 can be accessed here.
Response by the Respondent
Statement by Bawaslu
Statement by the Relevant Party

Author: Ashri Fadilla
Editor: N. Rosi
Translator: Syifa Amelia/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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