The Parigi Moutong Regency KPU’s (Respondent) legal counsel Josua Victor testifying at the examination hearing for case No. 75/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the regent election, Thursday (1/23/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.
JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) held an examination hearing on January 23, 2025 for Case No 75/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 concerning the Parigi Moutong regent election results dispute filed by Candidate Pair 3 M. Nizar Rahmatu–Ardi.
At the hearing to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, the Respondent’s (Parigi Moutong Regency Elections Commission/KPU) legal counsel Josua Victor responded to the petition, which in essence stated that the Respondent had certified unqualified Candidate Pair 05 Amrullah S. Kasim Almahdaly–Ibrahim A.Hafid, arguing that the claim was legally groundless.
“Because the Respondent has acted appropriately and correctly in certifying Candidate Pair 05 H. Amrullah S. Kasim Almahdaly and Ibrahim A. Hafid,” he explained.
Josua further explained that before the Respondent certified candidate pair 05, they had been sued at the Makassar Administrative Court, where they were ordered to annul the decision regarding Candidate Pair 05 as a prospective candidate pair.
Regarding the Petitioners’ question on the Respondent’s decision not to file a cassation appeal, the Respondent emphasized that the cassation appeal is optional. Considering the time for the simultaneous election on November 27, 2024, the Respondent has carefully considered the time available until election day, so that their actions would comply with the decision of the authorized judicial institution.
“As the Respondent’s compliance in carrying out the hearing, Candidate Pair 05 was finally included again,” said Joshua before Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat (panel chair) and the panel members.
After issuing a new decree by certifying Candidate Pair 05, the Respondent carried out a recapitulation on December 4, after the voting and vote-counting process. “In the recapitulation, the Respondent has certified the vote acquisition as referred to in evidence T-4,” asserted Josua.
The Relevant Party and the Parigi Moutong Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) also testified at the examination hearing on panel 3. On behalf of Candidate Pair 05 Amrullah S. Kasim Almahdaly (Relevant Party), Idrul Wahid emphasized that the Petitioners’ argument was legally groundless and seemed to be an assumption as they did not fully explain when the social assistance had been distributed, in which villages, and how.
“Moreover, should the Petitioners’ argument be true, of course, the distribution of social assistance cannot be linked to the Relevant Party because the Relevant Party is no longer serving as a member of the Central Sulawesi Provincial DPRD (Legislative Council). The duties and functions of DPRD members are only to propose ideas from society to the government in the preparation of the regional government work plan (RKPD) and in the process of distributing ideas was fully done by the [regional apparatus] offices at the regional level, meaning that the Petitioners’ argument must be set aside or rejected,” Idrul asserted.
Meanwhile, Parigi Moutong Regency Bawaslu member Herman Saputra said that there had been no reports or findings related to the Petitioners’ argument. He argued that based on the results of the Kasimbar District Panwaslu’s (election supervisory committee) supervision as stated in the report dated November 26, 2024, in essence, the Kasimbar District Panwaslu had investigated the distribution of cacao seeds by the village government during the election silence in Toriapes Hamlet, Kasimbar District.
“The results of the investigation showed that it was true that there was a distribution of cacao seed to the Hindu community in Toriapes Hamlet, Kasimbar District, that the number of seeds distributed was 1,300 seeds to 13 family heads. They were purchased using the village fund (DD) budget, and that the distribution was a village program without any campaign elements in it,” explained Herman.
Also read: Revote Requested in Parigi Moutong: Candidate’s Legitimacy Questioned
The Parigi Moutong regent-vice regent Candidate Pair 3 M. Nizar Rahmatu–Ardi have filed a petition arguing that regent candidate 5 Amrullah S. Kasim Almahdaly had not met the election requirements. In the petitums, the Petitioners argued that based on the Supreme Court’s cassation decision, Amrullah S. Kasim Almahdaly had undergone a criminal process. Thus, the calculation of the five-year hiatus for him only began after the decision was issued. It means that the hiatus had not been completed during the candidate registration process, which took place on August 27-29, 2024.
Hiatus period for former convicts running in the election is stipulated in Article 7 paragraph (2) letter g of Law No. 10 of 2016 and is clarified in Article 14 paragraph (2) letter f and Article 17 of the KPU Regulation (PKPU) No. 10 of 2024. Under these regulations, a former convict must wait for five years after being released to be able to run as a regional head. However, the Parigi Moutong KPU still certified Amrullah S. Kasim Almahdaly-Ibrahim Hafid as candidates.
In the petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to: (1) invalidate the Parigi Moutong Regency KPU Decree No. 1850 of 2024; (2) disqualify Candidate Pairs 4 Erwin Burase and Abdul Sahid and 5 Amrullah S. Kasim Almahdaly and Ibrahim A. Hafid from the election; (3) order the Respondent to issue a decree stipulating Candidate Pair 3 M. Nizar Rahmatu and Ardi as the Parigi Moutong’s elected regent-vice regent. Alternatively, the Petitioners requested the Court to order the Respondent to do a revote at all polling stations within the regency, no later than 90 days after the decision.
Author : Utami Argawati
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : 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.
Thursday, January 23, 2025 | 16:18 WIB 17