Kutai Kartanegara Elections Commission: Edi Damansyah Eligible for Re-Election

The Respondent's legal counsel Hifdzil Alim at the examination hearing for the 2024 Kutai Kartanegara regent election case No. 163/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Thursday (1/23/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa

JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) held an examination hearing to hear the Respondent’s response and statements by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) and to validate evidence of the Parties on Thursday, January 23, 2025. The hearing for Case No. 163/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 was presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1. Hifdzil Alim as the legal counsel of the Kutai Kartanegara Elections Commission (Respondent) delivered a response to the argument on the term of office served by Regent Candidate 1 Edi Damansyah (Relevant Party), whom the Petitioners claimed to have served two terms as Acting Regent.

Hifdzil mentioned that Edi Damansyah was appointed as the Acting Regent of Kutai Kartanegara starting from October 10, 2017 to April 8, 2018, then appointed again from April 9, 2018 to February 13, 2019. Afterwards, he was assigned as the Acting Regent from February 14, 2019 to February 25, 2021, and finally was elected as the Definitive Regent in 2021 and served until the end of his term.

“Therefore, the Respondent believes that Edi Damansyah has not exceeded two terms,” Hifdzil explained in response to the petition filed by Candidate Pair 2 Awang Yacoub Luthman and Akhmad Zais (Petitioners).

Office Term as Acting Regent is Excluded

Candidate Pair 1, Edi Damansyah and Rendi Solihin (Relevant Party), through their legal counsel Anwar, clarified that the acting regent position should not be included in calculating the total office term. Therefore, the office term should only reflect the period during which the Relevant Party served as the definitive regent.

“So, the reason we say that there has not been two terms is because the term as Acting Regent cannot be counted into the term of office,” Anwar explained.

Three Reports Submitted

The Chairperson of the Kutai Kartanegara Bawaslu Teguh Wibowo in his statement reported having received an election dispute complaint on September 25, 2024 which objected the KPU Decree No. 1131 of 2024 on the certification of the candidate pairs in the 2024 Kutai Kartanegara regent election.

“The Kutai Kartanegara Bawaslu has issued a status on the report on October 2, 2024, which essentially declared the Petitioners’ report had met the formal requirements but did not meet the material requirements of the election dispute settlement report. Thus, the report is declared inadmissible.” Therefore, the object of the dispute reported did not incur direct damage on the Petitioners. Then, Bawaslu also received a report that the Banjarmasin State Administrative Court ruled with a verdict that stated the plaintiff’s lawsuit was rejected. Furthermore, there was a report that the Supreme Court ruled a verdict which basically rejected the plaintiff’s cassation appeal,” Teguh stated.

Also read:

Edi Damansyah’s Election After Two Terms in Kutai Kartanegara Challenged

Dendi-Alif: Kutai Kartanegara Incumbent Regent Has Served Two Term

In the preliminary hearing on Monday, January 13, 2025 the Petitioners requested the annulment of the Kutai Kartanegara Regency KPU Decree No. 1893 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 Kutai Kartanegara Regency election results to the Court. They mentioned that the vote acquisitions certified by the KPU (Respondent) are as follows: Candidate Pair 01 Edi Damansyah-Rendi Solihin received 259,489 votes, Candidate Pair 02 Awang Yacoub Luthman-Akhmad Zais received 34,763 votes, and the Petitioners received 83,513 votes. However, the Petitioners argued that Candidate Pair 1, Edi Damansyah, had already served two terms: from October 6, 2017 to February 13, 2019 as Acting Regent, and from February 14, 2019 to February 13, 2021 as Definitive Regent.

As such, the Petitioners requested the Court to: 1) postpone the applicability of the threshold provisions in Article 158 of Law 10 of 2016 in this specific case; 2) declare the entire election and its results invalid given the ineligibility of Candidate Pair 1’s candidacy; and 3) order a revote by only involving Candidate Pairs 2 and 3 to ensure the continuation of the Kutai Kartanegara Regency Government.

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Kutai Kartanegara Elections Commission: Edi Damansyah Eligible for Re-Election