Legal counsel Ahyaudin testifying on behalf of Muara Enim Regency Bawaslu for case No.83/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Muara Enim regent election, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Muara Enim Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) has received a report of alleged election violations committed by Lawang Kidul district election committee (PPK). Therefore, they recommended that the Muara Enim Regency Elections Commission or KPU (Respondent) process the handling of the ethical violation in accordance with applicable regulations.

The statement was delivered by Ahyaudin on behalf of the Muara Enim Regency Bawaslu at the second hearing for the 2024 Muara Enim regent election results dispute on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1 to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu.

Bawaslu admitted to having supervised the Muara Enim KPU’s report on the petition filed by Candidate Pair Number 03 Nasrun Umar and Lia Anggraini. The Muara Enim Regency KPU has imposed a written warning sanction to Lawang Kidul PPK through Letter No. 1159/HK.03.1-SP/1603/4/2024 dated December 21, 2024.

“There were errors in the writing and at the district-level recapitulation it was corrected, but [the errors] were not written in the incident record. So, the correction process has been carried out, but not with good administration. Bawaslu believes Lawang Kidul PPK were negligent. This [incident] has also been followed up by the KPU by giving written sanctions to the PPK members,” Ahyaudin said in response to one of the arguments reported by the Petitioners of Case No. 83/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025.

Past Deadline

The Muara Enim Regency KPU’s legal counsel Mujaddin Islam said that by referring to Article 7 paragraph (2) and paragraph (4) of the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 3 of 2024, the petition requesting the cancelation of the Muara Enim Regency KPU Decree No. 1669 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 Muara Enim regent election results dated December 3, 2024 at 22:37 WIB was filed one business day after the deadline. The deadline of three workdays since the Respondent announced the certification of the vote acquisition of the election results was December 5, 2024 at 24.00 WIB.

“Based on the electronic petition filing certificate (e-AP3), the Petition was filed to the Court on Friday, December 6, 2024 at 17:29 WIB. Thus, legally, the petition has passed [the deadline by] one business day. It was submitted past the deadline, so the Court is not authorized to examine and hear the Petitioners’ petition,” Mujaddin argued.

Structured, Systematic, and Massive Violations

Meanwhile, Candidate Number 02 Edison-Sumarni (Relevant Party) through Riasan Syahri denied the Petitioners’ allegation regarding the involvement of state civil apparatus (ASN). The alleged ASN involvement in the photo evidence of the head of Youth and Sports Division of Muara Enim Regency was of a dining event carried in commemoration of the Prophet’s birthday on October 5, 2024, at the Sheikh Burhanuddin Jami’ Mosque.

Then, allegation of violation conducted by Ujan Mas KPPS officers who were photographed dining together with regent candidate 02 on November 28, 2024 is inaccurate. “The truth is that Eva Jariah did serve as KPPS 01 of Ujan Mas Baru Village, but she was no longer on duty and no longer had the capacity as a KPPS officer [when she was photographed having a meal with regent candidate number 2],” explained Riasan.

Also read: Nasrun-Lia Request Revote for Muara Enim Regent Election in Four Districts

At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, January 9, 2025, the Petitioners requested the cancellation of the Muara Enim Regency KPU Decree No. 1669 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Muara Enim regent election results dated December 3, 2024. The Petitioners mentioned the votes of the candidate pairs as follows: Candidate Number 01 Rizali-Shinta Paramitha Sari received 37,710 votes, Candidate Number 02 Edison-Sumarni received 114,258 votes, the Petitioners received 105,053 votes, and Candidate Number 4 Ramlan Holdan-Ropi Alex Candra received 37,751 votes, with total of 294,772 valid votes. According to the Petitioners, the difference of 9,205 votes between them and candidate pair number 02 was due to the Respondent’s partiality and structured, systematic, and massive vote buying.

 

Also read:

The Petition for Case No. 83/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025

The Respondent’s Response

Bawaslu’s Statement

The Relevant Party’s Statement

 

Author               : Sri Pujianti.
Editor                : N. Rosi
Translator         : Dinita Aktivia/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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