The Respondent's legal counsel Makrifat Putra at the examination hearing for Case No. 92/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Minahasa regent election results dispute, Wednesday (1/22/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) convened an examination hearing to hear testimonies from the Respondent, Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, as well as to validate evidence for Case No. 92/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025. The hearing was presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih, on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. At the hearing, the Minahasa KPU (Election Commission) as the Respondent addressed the Petitioners’ allegations that Candidate 03 Robby Dondokambey had not resigned from his position as a member of the North Sulawesi Legislative Council (DPRD) for the 2024-2029 period, thereby constituting an administrative violation.

The Relevant Party’s legal counsel Makrifat Putra confirmed that Robby Dondokambey attended the inauguration of the North Sulawesi DPRD members for the 2024-2029 term on September 9, 2024. Following a letter of appeal from the Minahasa Bawaslu (Election Supervisory Body) on September 13, 2024, the Respondent conducted an online clarification, during which Dondokambey acknowledged attending the inauguration.

Following the clarification, Robby Dondokambey submitted additional candidacy documents through the liaison officer (LO) of Candidate Pair 03. These included a resignation letter from his position as a member of the North Sulawesi DPRD, a receipt for the resignation letter from the DPRD Secretariat, and a dismissal letter.

"On September 13, 2024, through their liaison officer, Candidate Pair 03 submitted a resignation letter along with a statement that the resignation process was ongoing," said Makrifat in the plenary courtroom.

The Relevant Party’s legal counsel Rangga T. Paonganan explained that Robby Dondokambey registered as a prospective candidate with the Minahasa Regency KPU on August 29, 2024. At that time, Robby had submitted a resignation notification letter from the political party regarding his position as a member of the North Sulawesi DPRD for the 2024-2029 period. However, the Minahasa KPU deemed Robby Dondokambey-Vanda Sarundajang's candidacy did not meet the requirements.

The Minahasa KPU further allowed Robby Dondokambey to revise the required documents between September 6 and 8, 2024. After submitting the revised notification letter from the political party regarding his resignation from the North Sulawesi DPRD, Robby's candidacy was declared to meet the requirements.

Robby attended the inauguration on September 9, 2024. However, on the same day, he submitted his resignation to the Secretariat of the North Sulawesi DPRD.

"Furthermore, Robby Dondokambey's resignation letter was submitted to the Secretariat of the DPRD on September 10. On September 13, the Secretariat issued a statement confirming his resignation. Therefore, the document requirements for his candidacy as regent have been fulfilled," stated Rangga.

Meanwhile, the Minahasa Bawaslu received reports on other issues, including alleged misuse of the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP). However, the report was not registered due to failure to meet the material requirements. "Additionally, one dispute request filed by Candidate Pair 01 was not registered because the Petitioners did not experience direct losses," said Minahasa Bawaslu member Arthur Ignasius Karinda.

At the previous hearing, Candidate Pair 01 Susi Fiane Sigar-Perly George Steven Pandeiroot (Petitioners) argued that Robby Dondokambey had not submitted his resignation from his position as a member of the North Sulawesi DPRD until the determination of the candidate pair in the Minahasa regent election. This, according to the Petitioners, violated Article 24 paragraph (1) of the General Election Commission Regulation (PKPU) Number 8 of 2024 on the candidacy of governors and vice governors, regents and vice regents, and mayors and vice mayors.

Author  : Nawir Arsyad Akbar

Editor   : Tiara Agustina
Translator     : Nazila Rikhusshuba/FS (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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