Anjar Nawan Yusky Eko Prastyo (second left) testifying on behalf of the Respondent at the examination hearing for Case No. 104/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the North Halmahera Regency election, Wednesday (1/22/2025) in the panel 3 courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The North Halmahera KPU (Elections Commission) as Respondent responded to the Petitioners’ claims in Case No. 104/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, filed by Candidate Pair 02 Steward Leopold Louis Soentpiet–Maskur Abdullah, on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. They argued that the Petitioners’ petition was unclear, as it failed to provide evidence regarding the number of final voter lists at the TPS (polling stations), the number of ballots used, and the 2.5% reserve ballots, rendering their arguments vague.

The Respondent’s legal counsel Anjar Nawan Yusky explained that the issue of discrepancy in ballots raised by the Petitioners was irrelevant. He stated that the issue was unrelated to the difference in votes between the candidate pairs and the Petitioners’. Yet, the difference in the number of ballots received and available at the KPPS (polling station working committee) did not mean a reduction of the Petitioners’ votes or an increase in votes for other candidate pairs. Similarly, it did not decrease the votes for other candidate pairs to benefit the Petitioners.

Anjar further emphasized that no findings of election violations related to the incidents alleged by the Petitioners from the poll supervisors, subdistrict elections supervisory committee (Panwascam), or the North Halmahera Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body). Additionally, the Petitioners failed to prove or even explain how the Respondent had allegedly manipulated valid votes.

“All witnesses of the candidate pairs, including the Petitioners’ witnesses, signed the C-result regent KWK forms and had no objections or notes of incidents at the polls. Until the Respondent’s response was drafted, the Respondent had not or never received any recommendation from Bawaslu or further decrees regarding violations committed by the KPPS,” asserted Anjar.

Candidate Pair 04 Piet Hein Babua–Kasman Hi. Ahmad as Relevant Party, represented by Reli J. Laike, emphasized that the Petitioners’ argument of fraud in 15 districts was inconsistent with the actual situation. After a detailed examination, it was found that only 11 districts and 52 polling stations were mentioned in the Petitioners’ petition. Furthermore, no evidence of fraud was discovered during the voting process or the vote-counting recapitulation at the poll-level within these locations.

“We emphasize here, Your Honors, at the hearing on January 10, 2025, the Petitioners stated that the witness had not signed the C-results-copy-KWK forms at 52 polling stations, which was a lie. Everyone signed [the forms], only two did not,” said Reli.

North Halmahera Bawaslu chairman Ahmad Idris stated that no reports or findings of election violations concerning the Petitioners’ argument were filed. “According to the letter from the North Halmahera Bawaslu chairman dated November 25, 2024 concerning the appeal to the North Halmahera KPU chairman emphasized that the implementation of tiered voting and counting process must adhere to the provisions of the laws and regulations,” he explained.

Also read: Civil Servants Mobilization in North Halmahera Regency Election

At the preliminary hearing on Friday, January 10, 2025, the Petitioners raised an objection to the vote count results, which declared the Relevant Party as the winner. They argued that the victory was achieved through an unconstitutional process and involved structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations throughout the entire election process.

Author            : Utami Argawati
Editor             : Tiara Agustina
Translator       : Syifa Amelia/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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