Samaun-Donatus: Petitioners' Witnesses Signed Vote Acquisition Results in 40 Polling Stations

Samaun-Donatus: Petitioners' Witnesses Signed Vote Acquisition Results in 40 Polling Stations The Fakfak Bawaslu Chairperson Arifin Takamokan giving testimony at the examination hearing for the 2024 Fakfak regent election case No. 188/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Thursday (1/23/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Regent Candidate Pair 2 Samaun Dahlan and Donatus Nimbitkendik (Relevant Party) claimed that the witnesses of the Candidate Pair 1 Untung Tamsil and Yohana Dina Hindom (Petitioners) had witnessed the C-result forms or the vote acquisition results documents in the 40 polling stations disputed. The Relevant Party delivered their statement in the examination hearing to hear the Respondent's response and the Bawaslu and the Relevant Party's statements for petition with Case No. 188/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025.

"All of the documents related to the [election] results have been signed by the witnesses, for that we have submitted evidence, Your Honors," said M. Yasin Djamaluddin, the Relevant Party's legal counsel before panel 2 presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on Thursday, January 23, 2025.

As the Respondent, the Fakfak Regency Elections Commission (KPU) denied the Petitioners' arguments that alleged the polling station working committee (KPPS) failed to maintain and secure the integrity of ballot boxes. However, the Respondent vouched that the KPPS had fulfilled their obligations to maintain the security of the ballot boxes after the vote count and after the boxes were re-sealed as provisioned by the laws and regulations.

"The protection and safekeeping were not only conducted by the Respondent, but also the security apparatus on duty and the Bawaslu who, in a tiered manner, always kept close watch of the ballot boxes," argued Petrus P. Ell, the Respondent's legal counsel who accompanied the Fakfak KPU Chairperson Hendra J. C. Talla.

Petrus conveyed that the Respondent had assured the regent C-result KWK forms or the vote acquisition of the ballots inside the boxes matched the copies distributed to the witnesses and the Bawaslu and was in line with the vote count recapitulation plenary sessions at the district and the regency levels. In fact, Bawaslu didn't bring up any findings related to the Petitioners' allegations, hence Petrus called the Petitioners' arguments to lack legal grounds.

Similarly, the Fakfak Bawaslu Chairperson Arifin Takamokan reported that no incident or objection forms were filed related to the vote count recapitulation at the district levels. Moreover, none of the 12 reports on election violations alleged by the Petitioners were proven.

"Out of the 12 reports in the arguments, none were proven," Arifin stated.

Arifin also explained that the Fakfak Bawaslu was assigned reports of election violations, in which the complainants essentially alleged abuse of authority by Candidate Pair 1 by appointing non-tenured employees in the Regency Legislative Council Secretariat and the Fakfak Regency Hospital, among others. The Bawaslu then forwarded recommendations to the KPU on administrative violations which may benefit or harm certain candidate pairs.

The KPU took follow-up actions by disqualifying Untung Tamsil-Yohana Dina Hindom from the regent election. However, the West Papua Provincial KPU overturned the decision because the disqualification was deemed to lack legal considerations. The overturning reinstated Tamsil-Yohana as Candidate Pair 1. Nevertheless, the pair was punished and could not participate in 10 days of the campaign period.

Also read: Tamsil-Yohana Allege Violations at 40 Polling Stations in Fakfak

In the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners claimed to have lost the right to campaign due to the Fakfak KPU's negligence and rash decision in disqualifying them. Although the Petitioners were later re-appointed as a candidate pair by the West Papua KPU, they argued that the disqualification caused harm in the form of reduced campaigning time.

Based on the vote acquisition certified by the Fakfak KPU as the Respondent, Candidate Pair 1 Untung Tamsil-Yohana Dina Hindom received 20,818 votes, while Candidate Pair 2 Samaun Dahlan-Donatus Nimbitkendik received 24,775 votes. Candidate Pair 2 (Relevant Party) won 3,957 more votes than Candidate Pair 1 (Petitioners).

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to declare the Fakfak KPU Decree No. 2831 on the certification of the Fakfak regent election vote count recapitulation dated December 6, 2024, null and void and not legally binding concerning the vote acquisition at the polling stations across 6 districts, 6 villages, and 40 polling stations. The Petitioners also requested the Court to order the Fakfak KPU to conduct a revote at these polling stations and appoint new KPPS chairperson and members, as well as PPK chairperson and members, at the polling stations where the revote is conducted.

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Samaun-Donatus: Petitioners' Witnesses Signed Vote Acquisition Results in 40 Polling Stations