The East Kotawaringin Regency KPU’s (Respondent) legal counsel M. Ali Fernandes testifying at the examination hearing for the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu in case No. 166/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the regent election, Wednesday, (1/22/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The East Kotawaringin Elections Commission (KPU) refuted the arguments of the petition for Case No. 166/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2024 on the 2024 East Kotawaringin election results dispute. They denied having manipulated 1,791 ballots as alleged by the Petitioners.

As the Respondent, the East Kotawaringin KPU delivered its response at an examination hearing to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. The hearing for the case was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1.

The Respondent explained that the 1,791 ballots disputed by the Petitioners were the reserve ballots constituting 2.5 percent of the total voters in the final voters list (DPT), which to this day remain in the East Kotawaringin KPU warehouse and are not in the risk of misuse.

“So, it is false for the Petitioners to state that the 1,791 ballots were appropriated, because they are still in storage, Your Honors,” stated M. Ali Fernandez, the Respondent’s legal counsel.

The Respondent also clarified the number of voters allegedly unable to exercise their voting rights. The Petitioners previously questioned the difference between the number of voters in the gubernatorial and regent elections; the former recorded 1,066 voters and the latter 967. According to the Respondent, the two elections differed by 99 votes due to the relocated voters.

“In principle, it is appropriate and normal for there to be a difference between [the number of] relocated voters in the regent election and the gubernatorial election. The people who are not [residents of] East Kotawaringin relocating from another regency are only permitted to vote for the governor, not the regent,” Ali explained.

Also read: Due to Mobilization of Village Heads, East Kotawaringin Election Disputed

Candidate Pair 1 Halikinnor and Irawati (Relevant Party) also delivered their statement concerning the petition. The Petitioners previously alleged the mobilization of regional government officials, village heads, members of village consultative body, and Dayak tribal council. The Relevant Party noted that such indications had been reported to the East Kotawaringin Bawaslu, but was discontinued.

“We can explain that the allegation was reported to the East Kotawaringin Bawaslu, whereas the report was discontinued with the reason that [the actions] were unproven to be election violations,” clarified Amnasmen, the Relevant Party’s legal counsel.

The Relevant Party also touched on the allegation of vote buying, to which they argued that the Petitioners had not explained the vote buying incidents in detail.

“Based on the results of our review, the Petitioners’ evidence was unclear about when the money was given, from whom and to whom, and what was the impact on the voting in the election,” he added.

Bawaslu Clarifies Recommendation and Follow-Ups

Meanwhile, the East Kotawaringin Bawaslu as a testifier admitted to having received many reports, one of which related to indications of the violation of election organizers’ code of ethics.

Upon review, they issued a recommendation notifying the violation of code of ethics by election organizers.

“In short, the report contained indications of the violation of the code of ethics of the election organizers and [the report] was forwarded to the Election Organizer Ethics Council,” said Muhamad Natsir, the regency’s Bawaslu chairperson.

Meanwhile, the other reports lodged was not followed up by Bawaslu because their reviews did not point to election violations.

Also read:

Case No.166/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025

Response by the Respondent

Statement by the Relevant Party

Statement by Bawaslu

 

Author            : Ashri Fadilla
Editor              : N. Rosi
Translator      : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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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