Dewi Aorora and legal counsel Sendo Phangestu representing Respondent at the examination hearing for Case No. 13/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The issue of “ghost witnesses” resurfaced at the examination hearing for Case No. 13/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Padang Panjang mayoral election results dispute. The hearing, presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1, focused on hearing testimonies from the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, as well as validating evidence presented by the parties. The session took place on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 in the Constitutional Court (MK)’s second building.

Through legal counsel Sendi Phangestu Prawira Nagara, the Padang Panjang KPU (Elections Commission) as Respondent delivered a response to the Petitioners’ claims. One of the issues raised by the Petitioners was the alleged vote buying or “money politics” in the amount of Rp300,000. The Respondent rejected this argument, stating that there was no recommendation from the Padang Panjang Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) to support the claim.

“In fact, to date, the Respondent has not received any recommendations from Bawaslu as the authorized institution. Therefore, we firmly reject the posita of the a quo petition,” said Sendi.

In line with the Respondent, Padang Panjang mayor-vice mayor candidates 03 Hendri Arnis and Allex Saputra also did not confirm the allegations of money politics. Through their legal counsel, they asserted that the accusation of money politics and even ghost witnesses is false. They further emphasized that the term “ghost witnesses” is not included in the Election Law.

“The [allegation of] camouflaged distribution of assignment letters as ghost witnesses, for 1,600 people with a fee of 300 thousand rupiah paid by transfer, is incorrect, wrong, and vague. The Election Law does not recognize ghost witnesses,” said the Relevant Party’s legal counsel Muhammad Nur Idris.

Furthermore, the Relevant Party also testified that they should have obtained up to 16,000 votes if the allegations were true. This is because, according to the Petitioners, 1,600 ghost witnesses were assigned to find 10 voters each.

“However, in fact, Candidate Pair 03 only received 12,684 votes,” said Idris.

After testifying, the Respondent and the Relevant Party each submitted a petitum requesting the Court to affirm the validity of the Padang Panjang KPU Decree No. 265 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Padang Panjang mayor regent election results.

At this hearing, the Padang Panjang Bawaslu was also present as a testifier and ensured that no recommendations were issued regarding the Petitioners’ arguments. However, regarding the alleged money politics reported, the Padang Panjang Bawaslu admitted that it had followed up by conducting an initial investigation. From the investigation, it was concluded that the report could not be registered because it did not meet the material requirements. The complainant was also requested to make improvements by completing the evidence on December 6, 2024, and a notification regarding the report status was issued on December 8, 2024.

“In the report, [the allegation] was not proven to be an election violation,” said the chairperson of Padang Panjang Bawaslu, Hidayatul Fajri.

Also read: Nasrul-Eri Question Ghost Witness in Padang Panjang City Election

At the preliminary examination hearing on Friday, January 10, 2025, the Petitioners argued that there were structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations, including the practice of money politics through volunteers assigned as “ghost witnesses.” According to the Petitioners, 1,600 volunteer assignment letters were distributed to become ghost witnesses during the quiet period. The ghost witnesses were tasked with getting 10 voters each to vote for the Relevant Party, with the promise of a payment of Rp300,000.

In their petitiums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Padang Panjang KPU decree on the certification of the 2024 mayoral election results, and to order the Padang Panjang KPU to conduct a revote.

 

Also read:

The Petition for Case No. 13/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025

Response by the Respondent

Statement by Bawaslu

Statement by the Relevant Party

Author              : Ashri Fadilla
Editor                : N. Rosi
Translator         : Nazila Rikhusshuba/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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