Rahmatia (Respondent) and legal counsel Opta Eka Saputra T. at the examination hearing for Case No. 78/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Buton Regency election results dispute, Friday (1/24/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held an examination hearing for Case No. 78/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Buton regent election results dispute on Friday, January 24, 2025. Chief Justice Suhartoyo presided over the hearing, accompanied by Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah in panel 1 courtroom. The hearing included the Respondent’s response, testimonies by the Relevant Party and the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu).

Buton Regency Elections Commission’s (KPU) legal counsel Yopta Eka Saputra Tanwir (Respondent) explained the diploma of the vice regent candidate 6 Syarifudin Saafa during the regent candidate nomination. Based on the Buton Regency KPU Decree No. 468 of 2024 on the announcement of the 2024 regent-vice regent of Buton Regency dated September 22, 2024, Syarifudin Saafa no longer used his master’s degree (“M.M.”).

“Hence, the ballots used on the election day did not state the master’s degree of vice regent candidate pair 6 Syarifudin Saafa. No issues were raised as the master’s degree was not included in the decree or the ballots,” clarified the Respondent.

Also read: Diploma, Election Organizers Questioned in Buton Election Case

At the preliminary hearing on January 15, 2025, the Petitioners questioned the legitimacy of the master’s diploma of Buton vice regent candidate 6 Syarifudin Saafa during the nomination process. They argued that the degree, obtained from Timbul Nusantara University’s postgraduate program in 2017, was invalid, as the candidate was not registered as a student in the management program. This allegation was supported by a verification letter from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, stating that the candidate was not registered as a student in the management program whose diploma had been issued on November 10, 2017.

The Petitioners also questioned the vote margin between them and the Relevant Party. According to the Respondent’s certification, there was a vote margin of 2,879 votes. The Petitioners alleged this had occurred as a result of structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations from the beginning to the completion of the election, which significantly affected their votes. Therefore, they requested the annulment of the certification of the 2024 Buton regent election results in the Buton Regency KPU Decree No. 840 of 2024.

Read Also:

Petition for Case No. 78/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025
Respondent’s response
Bawaslu’s statement
Relevant Party’s statement

 

Author          : Sri Pujianti
Editor          : N. Rosi
Translator    : Ryan Alfian/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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