Bawaslu representative Bahrudin La Puka at the examination hearing for the 2024 South Buton regent election case No. 134/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Thursday (1/23/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The South Buton Elections Commission (KPU) as the Respondent argued that Candidate Pair 4 Hardodi and La Ode Amiruddin (Petitioners) had misfiled their petition alleging vote buying or money politics. According to the Respondent, the Petitioners should have reported allegations of vote buying to the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) or other authorities instead of lodging a petition to the Constitutional Court.

“[That is the case] if what the Petitioners meant was an objection to the certification of vote count recapitulation by the Respondent due to a massive practice of vote buying committed by Candidate Pairs 1, 2, 3 and/or their campaign teams,” said the Respondent’s legal counsel Fajar Maulana Yusuf at the examination hearing to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu on Case No. 134/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 on Thursday, January 23, 2025.

Fajar mentioned that the Petitioners argued that Candidate Pair 01 had granted Rp150,000-Rp200,000 per voter, Candidate Pair 02 had granted Rp500,000-Rp600,000 per voter, and Candidate Pair 03 had granted Rp100,000-Rp300,000 per voter. The Petitioners claimed to have evidence of vote-buying that had occurred in 70 villages across seven districts in South Buton Regency. However, according to the Respondent, the Petitioners had not elaborated clearly the names of the perpetrators and recipients nor the date and place of the incidents.

“The Respondent was never summoned by Bawaslu for inquiry nor to receive Bawaslu’s recommendations or decisions related to the Petitioners’ arguments,” Fajar added.

Candidate Pair 2 Muhammad Adios and La Ode Risawal (Relevant Party) concurred with the Respondent’s response. They viewed the Petitioners’ argument of structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations unilateral and unaccountable. They stated that in arguing the violations, the Petitioners had not specified what, who, where, when, and in what way they were classified as TSM violations.

The Petitioners also could not elaborate on the impact of such violations on the supposedly correct vote count results. “The Petitioners could not mention and elaborate on the errors in the vote count results certified by the Respondent and the correct vote count results according to the Petitioners,” said Randiman Madi, the Relevant Party’s legal counsel.

The chairperson of the South Buton Bawaslu Bahrudin La Puka stated that the institution had received 23 reports and two findings during the election. Of these, 22 reports were registered but not followed up. One of them was a report of alleged election crime committed by Candidate Pairs 1, 2, and 3. The report was then examined collectively in the South Buton Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu) and found to not have satisfied the criteria for election crime as under Article 187 paragraphs (1) and (2) of Law No. 10 of 2016 on Regional Elections as it lacked evidence.

“The South Buton Bawaslu issued a status notice of the report on December 14, 2024, which in essence did not prove the report to be an election violation,” Bahrudin said.

Also read: Citing Money Politics, Petitioners Seeks Victory of South Buton Election

Referring to the South Buton Regency KPU Decree No. 716 of 2024 concerning the certification of the South Buton Regency election, Candidate Pair 01 Samirudin–La Muhadi obtained 11,424 votes, Candidate Pair 02 Muhammad Adios–La Ode Risawal gained 17,681 votes, Candidate Pair 3 Aliadi–La Ode Rusyamin received 14,242 votes, and Candidate Pair 04 Hardodi–La Ode Amiruddin received 2,799 votes. However, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the South Buton Regency KPU Decree and certify the Petitioners as the winner in the 2024 South Buton Regency election.

Author       : Mimi Kartika
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator  : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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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