Iskandar and Nasrudin testifying on behalf of the Respondent at the examination hearing for Case No. 143/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Konawe Islands regent election results dispute before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2, Thursday (1/23/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Konawe Islands regent-vice regent candidate pair 4 Rifqi Saifullah Razak and Muhamad Farid (Relevant Party) denied the argument made by candidate pair 3 Wa Ode Nurhayati and M. Yacub Rahman (Petitioners) that the Relevant Party’s leading vote was because of the partiality of incumbent regent, who had replaced 51 village heads in Konawe Islands Regency during election. The statement was delivered at the examination hearing for Case No.143/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on Thursday, January 23, 2025. This examination hearing included the Respondent’s response, testimonies by the Relevant Party and Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and validation of the parties’ evidence.

The Relevant Party’s legal counsel La Ode Muhammad Dzul Fajar explained that the appointment of acting village heads was in 59 villages, not 51, based on five criteria: term expiration, conviction of in a corruption case, death, and resignation due to candidacy in the 2024 legislative election. These appointments occurred between 2022 and 2023, or before the election.

“The appointment of acting village heads by the regent did not have connection with the Konawe Islands regent-vice regent election,” said Fajar.

With that argument, the Relevant Party requested the Court to reject the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety and to declare the validity of the Konawe Islands Elections Commissions (KPU) decree on the certification of the 2024 regent-vice regent election results.

Also read: Konawe Islands Regent’s Involvement in The Election

The Petitioners had previously argued that the Relevant Party’s regent candidate is the son of the incumbent regent. As such, they alleged the incumbent had sided with the Relevant Party in the regent-vice regent election.

Meanwhile, on behalf of the Konawe Islands Regency KPU (Respondent), Iskandar denied the Petitioners’ allegation of voting fraud and unregistered voters in the final voter list (DPT). Iskandar stated that the argument was groundless and could not be proven legally, as the Petitioners had not clearly specified the time, place, and subjects involved. Also, the Petitioners’ witnesses did not object to the vote recapitulation results at the polling station level throughout the Konawe Islands Regency.

“When we were doing the tiered recapitulation at polling station, district, or regency levels, all of the Petitioners’ witnesses signed [the C-result forms] and we submitted that as evidence,” stated Iskandar.

As such, the Respondent requested the Court to reject the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety and to declare the validity of the Respondent’s decree on the certification of the 2024 Konawe Islands regent-vice regent head election results.

On behalf of Konawe Islands Regency Bawaslu, Jibrar testified on the incumbent regent’s bias in the election. They received a disposition letter of an allegation of election violation from the Southeast Sulawesi Provincial Bawaslu dated December 6, 2024, which they investigated and issued a notification of status for on December 12, 2024, stating the action did not meet the criteria of an election offence.

 

Also read:

Petition for Case No. 143/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025
The Respondent’s response
The Relevant Party’s statement
Bawaslu’s statement

 

Author         : Ahmad Sulthon Zainawi
Editor          : N. Rosi
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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