The Respondent’s legal counsel Yakob Abdul Rahmad Mahmud testifying in the examination hearing of Case No. 40/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the Gorontalo mayoral election results dispute, in panel 3 courtroom, Friday (1/24/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court held an examination hearing of the Gorontalo mayoral election results dispute in panel 3 courtroom. The mayor-vice mayor candidate pair 4, Ryan Fahrichsan Kono and Charles Budi Doku, served as the Petitioners in Case No. 40/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025.

Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat presided over the hearing, accompanied by Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih. On behalf of the Respondent, Yakop Abul Rahmad Mahmud addressed the allegations of campaign violations and diploma authenticity of the mayoral candidate pair 3, Adhan Dambea. The Respondent stated they verified the diploma based on laws and regulations. During the hearing, the Respondent submitted T-6 evidence, showing that the mayoral candidate must possess at least a high school education.

“On September 3, 2024, the Petitioners and Gorontalo City Bawaslu confirmed the diploma of the Related Party. However, during the preliminary hearing on January 14, 2024, the Panel requested the Respondent to present evidence corresponding to the State Administrative Court (PTUN) decision. In response, the Respondent submitted T-9 to T-14 evidence, demonstrating that the Petitioners’ argument was groundless,” explained Yakop.

“Our investigation indicated that the Petitioners introduced a verdict that was not [originally] included in the a quo decision. The addition was based on a school graduation certificate (SKT) certified copy, subsequently deemed invalid by the head of Gorontalo Regency Education Office,” explained Yakop.

Based on review of legal documents in the form of a quo decisions, the Respondent stated that the annulment of KPU decree, which served as the case’s disputed object, was due to the certification that Adhan Dambea included as requirements for mayoral candidate in 2013. This document was retracted by the signing state official, citing a lack of authority to certify the diploma. As such, the KPU decree stated that the a quo legal decision cannot be maintained.

“It is not the diploma that was annulled, but the certified copy. After we looked for the a quo decision, there should be no problem with the current KPU regulation,” Yakop added.

Meanwhile, on behalf of the mayor-vice mayor candidate pair 4 Adhan Dambea and Indra Gobel, Apriyanto Nusa explained that the Petitioners’ petition improperly introduced a new phrase into the verdict: “which only based on the SKT copy of Adhan Dambea, that the certified copy was unilaterally annulled by the head of Gorontalo Regency Education Office”, was not included in the verdict. The Respondent stated that this was an attempt to deceive the Court in seeking legal truth, which is inappropriate.

“[We have] submitted the original verdict that matched the copy, Your Honors, [under] T-5 and T-6 [evidence], which is the decision of Manado PTUN. The Petitioners likely manipulated the verdict [so that] it mismatched the copy of verdict No. 5 and 6,” stated Apriyanto.

Apriyanto stressed, the PTUN decision did not declare Adhan Dambea as having no diploma. The PTUN judge emphasized that the SKT served as the basis for mayoral candidate’s registration requirement, equivalent to a diploma or certificate of study completion. “It only related to the certification, not Adhan Dambea’s basic education,” Apriyanto added.

Meanwhile, Gorontalo City Bawaslu in their statement stated that they did not receive any reports or findings of election violation and disputes, related to the Petitioners’ argument.

“Gorontalo City Bawaslu supervised the submission of documents by prospective candidates Adhan Dambea and Indra Gobel who provided their high school diplomas,” explained Sukrin Saleh Taib.

Also, Sukrin added, Bawaslu reviewed the authenticity of Adhan Dambea’s diploma based on the confirmation from the staff of the High School section of the North Sulawesi Provincial Education Office, confirming that the Adhan’s statement letter diploma is equivalent to a certificate of study completion.

Also read: Adhan Dambea’s Gorontalo Mayor Candidacy Challenged

The Petitioners raised concerns regarding the candidacy of Adhan Dambea, Gorontalo mayor candidate pair 3, who was disqualified by the Gorontalo KPU in 2013 following a lawsuit filed by another candidate pair. The lawsuit questioned the validity of Adhan Dambea’s educational credentials, specifically the absence of an elementary school diploma, for which he presented an elementary school SKT as a substitute. This matter had previously been brought before the Manado PTUN in 2013.

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the annulment of the Gorontalo KPU Decree No. 569 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Gorontalo mayor election results. They also requested that candidate pair 3 Adhan Dambea and Indra Gobel be disqualified from the election.

The Petitioners further requested the Court to order the Gorontalo KPU to conduct a revote involving only candidate pair 1 (Idris Rahim-Andi Ilham), candidate pair 2 (Mohamad Ramli Anwar-Ahmad Ana Supriyana Abdul Hamid), and candidate pair 4 (Ryan Fahrichsan Kono-Charles Budi Doku). (*)

Author       : Utami Argawati

Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR             : Tiara Agustina
Translator  : Ryan Alfian/FS

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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