Akbar Riyadi representing the Respondent alongside legal counsel Ahmad Ariadi at the examination of Case No. 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Tuesday (1/21/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The West Pasaman Elections Commission (KPU) said low voter turnout in the 2024 West Pasaman regent election was influenced by many factors. This was conveyed at the second hearing for Case No. 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 regarding the dispute over the West Pasaman regent election results on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) as well as to validate evidence.

The Petitioners for this case are Candidate Pair Number 2 Daliyus and Heri Miheldi. The Relevant Party is Candidate Pair Number 1 Yulianto and M. Ihpan.

As the Respondent in this case, the West Pasaman KPU stated that 128,240 voters had not exercised their voting rights. Many factors influenced it.

“Among them is the [low] awareness of the people themselves who did not exercise their right to vote,” stated the Respondent’s legal counsel Ahmad Ariadi at the hearing presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1.

Based on the data owned by the West Pasaman KPU, the 28,314 voters who did not exercise their voting rights consisted of 1,996 voters who turned out to be deceased but were still recorded, 2,114 voters who moved from their domiciles, 541 voters who moved voting locations, 71 voters changed their status, and the remaining 20,072 voters were unknown.

The Respondent also responded to the Petitioners’ claim of voters registered at polling stations that were far away, even up to 20 kilometers distance from their domiciles. According to the Respondent, this was not intentional as argued by the Petitioners.

The Respondent confirmed that in compiling the voter list, the district election committee (PPK) had conducted projections and mapping based on the election voters potential population data (DP4).

“Therefore, it is very unlikely that the Respondent has bad intentions in performing the task of organizing the election of the 2024 West Pasaman regent election, let alone that they make it difficult for voters to vote,” Ariadi stated.

The Relevant Party also confirmed the Respondent’s good faith in organizing the 2024 West Pasaman regent election. In their statement, they stated that the West Pasaman KPU had organized the election in a transparent and accountable manner.

“[The Respondent has conducted an election in a transparent and accountable manner] and not favoring any candidate pairs, thus there is no reason whatsoever to reject the results of the 2024 West Pasaman regent election, let alone requesting cancellation,” said the Relevant Party’s legal counsel Rusdy.

Both the Respondent and the Relevant Party requested the Court to affirm the validity of the West Pasaman KPU Decree No.1257 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 West Pasaman regent election results.

The West Pasaman Regency Bawaslu admitted that there had indeed been a report on voter lists. However, the report could not be followed up because it did not fulfill the formal and material requirements.

However, the West Pasaman Bawaslu issued a recommendation at the stage of preparing the voter list.

“Any recommendations?” asked Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah.

“No, Your Honor. At the stage of preparing the voter list, there was (a recommendation). It has been followed up by the KPU,” said Bawaslu member Laurencius Simatupang.

Also read: Voters in West Pasaman Had to Cross Islands to Vote

At the previous hearing on Friday, January 10, 2025, the Petitioners read out several arguments, including the difficulties experienced by the voters in the 2024 West Pasaman regent election. According to the Petitioners, some voters had to exercise their voting rights at different polling stations, some voters even had to travel long distances of up to 20 kilometers crossing the island to cast their vote.

The Petitioners said that this led to low voter participation in the 2024 West Pasaman regent election. Thus, they filed a petition requesting that the Court cancel the West Pasaman KPU Decree regarding the certification of the 2024 West Pasaman regent election results. They also requested that the Court order the KPU to conduct a revote.

Also read:

Petition for Case No. 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025

Respondent’s response

Bawaslu’s statement

Relevant Party’s statement

Author               : Ashri Fadilla
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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