The Respondent’s legal counsel Yefri Amazia Galla (center) testifying at the examination hearing for case No. 211/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the East Flores regent election results dispute in panel 3 courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The East Flores Elections Commission (KPU) as the Respondent denied the allegations by regent-vice regent candidate pair 1 Y.A.T. Lukman Riberu-Zakarias Paun (Petitioners) in case No. 211/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, stating they had successfully transported evacuees on November 25-26, 2024.

The Constitutional Court (MK) held the examination hearing for the 2024 East Flores regent election results dispute on Thursday, January 23, 2025. The panel heard the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat presided over the hearing, accompanied by Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Urbaningsih, in panel 3 courtroom.

The Respondent’s legal counsel Yeffry Amazia Galla stated that the regional government had been responsible for transporting voters who took shelter outside East Flores Regency back to their area. Voter turnout in Wulanggintang District was only 39.80 percent, while another district had 60.30 percent, totaling 46.74 percent.

Regarding the Petitioners’ argument that many evacuees had not been transported, the Respondent stated the evacuation took place on November 25-26, 2024. However, according to the polling station working committee’s (KPPS) report in the evacuation camps, many voters were not present during the distribution of C-notification forms (voting invitations), as they had already left.

“To ensure these voters [were able to cast their votes], the Respondent coordinated with the East Flores Government to transport voters to polling stations and provided vehicles for returning evacuees from Sikka Regency to East Flores. The Respondent coordinated to ensure that evacuees could vote at the relocated polling stations,” explained Yeffry.

The Respondent contacted the East Flores Regency Bawaslu about preparing vehicles for voters with different home addresses to relocated polling stations. The East Flores Bawaslu suggested the Respondent arrange the transport, which they successfully did with 8 vehicles to transport the voters to the relocated polling stations.

East Flores Bawaslu chairman Ernesta Katana noted several objections during the vote recapitulation of governor-vice governor and regent-vice regent vote results, based on the supervisory report dated December 6, 2024, and the D-special incident and/or witness-objection forms. Objections included ballots transferred by polling committees from TPS 002 in Karing Lamalouk Village to TPS 001 in Bilal Village (East Adonara District), and another transfer of 100 ballots by PPS in Titehena District.

“In Titehena District, 100 ballots were transferred before the voting at TPS 001 in Lewoingu Village, violating Law No. 10 of 2016 (Pilkada Law), KPU Regulation No. 17 of 2024, and Technical Guideline No. 1174 of 2024. In West Adonara District, two voters cast their votes at TPS 001 in Pajinian Village using their diplomas instead of resident IDs or citizenship documents,” explained Katana.

In addition, the East Flores Bawaslu identified mismatched voters’ names on the final voters list (DPT) and their diplomas. In Wulanggitang District, the polling station working committee (KPPS) did not provide copies of additional final voters list (DPTb) to polling station supervisors and witnesses of the regent-vice regent and governor-vice governor election.

Moreover, the East Flores Bawaslu received a report on December 5, 2024, alleging low voter turnout at TPS 01 in Boru Village, Wulanggitang District. In a status report dated December 10, 2024, East Flores Bawaslu stated that this report was not investigated further as it did not meet the formal reporting criteria.

The East Flores Bawaslu received another report, alleging that voters had not been transported from evacuation camps in East Flores and Sikka Regencies to polling stations by the East Flores Regency Government and the East Flores KPU. The report also noted low voter turnout in Wulangitang and Ile Bura Districts.

The East Flores Bawaslu conducted a preliminary review of these reports on December 7, 2024, stating that the reports did not satisfy formal reporting criteria. However, they recommended that the complainants revise their reports. A notification letter for revision was sent on December 8, 2024, allowing the complainants to meet the criteria for two days upon receipt.

Meanwhile, on behalf of candidate pair 2 Antonius Doni Dhein and Ignasius Doli (Relevant Party), Parulian Siregar addressed the Petitioners’ petition. The Relevant Party stated that the Respondent had fulfilled their obligation by transporting voters in districts affected by Mt. Lewotobi Laki-Laki’s eruption, namely Wulanggitang and Ile Bura. They argued that the Petitioners’ arguments were based on subjective opinions without strong legal facts.

The Relevant Party stated that the Respondent’s request for a revote and/or run-off election was legally groundless. Article 50 paragraph (2) and (4) of KPU Regulation No. 17 of 2024 stated that the revote only applies only if the vote result cannot be used or the vote recapitulation cannot be conducted.

“In fact, the files and documents of vote results can still be used, as evidenced in the recapitulation process at the district and regency levels,” stressed Siregar.

The Relevant Party stated that the mechanism for transporting voters from evacuation camps to the relocated polling stations had been agreed upon. Details of the relocated polling stations and voting invitation were disseminated to the community.

The Relevant Party emphasized that the Petitioners’ claim of the loss of 9,320 voters was baseless. Evidence showed that voters did not vote due to factors outside the Respondent’s control, not transport vehicles. As such, the Relevant Party viewed the Petitioners’ argument as groundless and should be dismissed based on prevailing regulations.

Also read: Volcanic Eruption Impeded Voting, Lukman-Zakarias Calls for Revote

Candidate pair 1 Y. A. T. Lukman Riberu-Zakarias Paun have filed a petition to the Court on the regent election results dispute in case No. 211/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025. They argued that the eruption of Mt. Lewotobi Laki-Laki had significantly disrupted the election process in Wulanggitang and Ilebura Districts. At a preliminary hearing on January 14, 2025, the Petitioners’ legal counsel Philipus Fernandez explained that on November 23, 2024, the East Flores KPU, the East Flores regional coordination forum (Forkopimda), the Local Government, the National Army, the Police, the East Flores Bawaslu, and the candidates’ representatives had agreed that the Local Government and the East Flores KPU would facilitate voters transport from evacuation camps to the nearest polling stations on election day.

In reality, it did not go as planned. Many evacuees could not reach polling stations due to a lack of vehicles, preventing them from voting. Additionally, many voters also did not receive the voting invitations (C-notice-KWK forms).

Author         : Utami Argawati
Editor           : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR              : Tiara Agustina
Translator    : Ryan Alfian/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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