Mario Gerson Lontaan from Bawaslu at the examination hearing for the 2024 Southeast Minahasa regent election case No. 86/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 to hear the Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu, Friday (1/24/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – As the Respondent, the Southeast Minahasa Elections Commission (KPU) denied the bureaucratic involvement alleged by Candidate Pair 3 Djein Leonora Rende and Ascke Alexander Benu (Petitioners) on the 2024 regent election results dispute case on Friday, January 24, 2025. Through legal counsel Rezky Panji Perdana Martua Hasibuan, the Respondent stated that the Petitioners had never previously reported the allegations to the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), the election supervisory committee (Panwaslu), or the KPU.

The KPU delivered its response at the examination hearing to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by the Relevant Party and Bawaslu and to validate evidence of the parties on Friday, January 24, 2025. The hearing for Case No. 86/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 was presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Asrul Sani on panel 2.

Panji argued that the Petitioners should have lodged a report to the Bawaslu, the Pawaslu, or the relevant institutions in the event of civil state apparatus or government officials showing partiality, as stipulated in the Regional Election Law. However, the Petitioners did not specify whether they had filed such reports. There was not even any recommendation or decree by Bawaslu nor a court ruling, thus Panji argued that the violations alleged could not be proven.

Therefore, the Respondent requested the Court to reject the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety and to affirm the validity and legality of the Respondent’s decree on the certification of the 2024 Southeast Minahasa regent election results.

The Relevant Party concurred. Through legal counsel Novie Kolinug, they denied the Petitioners’ argument about the bureaucratic or government involvement in the Relevant Party’s campaign. Novie stated that the arguments posited were unfounded and speculative, as they were merely narratives unaccompanied by evidence.

“There isn’t any argument explaining the ‘structured’ incident as alleged by the Petitioners to be an action committed by the Relevant Party or at least initiated by the Relevant Party,” Kolinug argued.

As such, the Relevant Party too requested the Court to reject the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety and to affirm the validity and legality of the Respondent’s decree on the certification of the 2024 Southeast Minahasa regent election results.

The Southeast Minahasa Bawaslu, represented by Mario Gerson Lontaan, delivered a statement on the matter. He revealed that Bawaslu had not received any reports and/or findings of election violation and dispute requests.

Also read: Southeast Minahasa Election Result Dispute: Bureaucratic Involvement Questioned

At the preliminary hearing, Candidate Pair 3 Djein Leonora Rende and Ascke Alexander Benu (Petitioners) had argued structured, systematic and massive (TSM) violations in the form of government involvement to secure the election victory for the Relevant Party. The Petitioners alleged the Southeast Minahasa acting regent and government officials had abused their authority by influencing and intimidating other officials who voted for other candidate pairs.

As such, the Petitioners requested the Court to order the Southeast Minahasa Regency KPU to do a revote by excluding Candidate Pair 1. The Petitioners also asked the Court to disqualify Candidate Pair 1 as they had allegedly committed a serious violation involving government officials.

Author         : Ahmad Sulthon Zainawi
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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