Deiyai Regency KPU’s legal counsel Eugen Ehrlich Arie testifying at the examination hearing for Case No. 181/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 regional election results dispute, Thursday (1/30/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Deiyai Regency Elections Commission (KPU) as Respondent denied the claims related to discrepancies in the 2024 Deiyai regent election vote counting. Candidate Number 3 Yan Ukago and Stefanus Mote, the Petitioners of Case No. 181/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, argued that there were negligence and discrepancies in the 2024 Deiyai regent election results through the noken* system.

The Respondent’s legal counsel Eugen Ehrlich Arie conveyed this at the hearing for the dispute over the 2024 Deiyai regent election results on Thursday, January 30, 2025.  Before panel 3 chaired by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, the Respondent denied the allegations made by Candidate Pair Yan Ukago and Stephen Mote (Petitioners) on discrepancies in the election system and vote counting. The Petitioners previously claimed that the vote counting process had not been in accordance with the noken*/ikat system, and there had been vote reduction and transfer in several districts.

“The allegation regarding the non-applicability of the noken/ikat system in Deiyai Regency is not true. The Respondent would like to assert that the 2024 Deiyai regent election was carried out in accordance with the noken/ikat system regulated in the General Elections Commission (KPU) Decree No. 1774 of 2024,” said Arie.

The Respondent asserted that all vote recapitulation results conducted by the district election committees (PPD) in various districts had been in accordance with applicable regulations, and there was no evidence of violations that could affect the results of the vote acquisition. In addition, there were no reports or findings from the Deiyai Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) regarding violations or fraud alleged by the Petitioners. “Exhibit T-10m Your Honors,” he added.

The Respondent also explained that the letters of agreement from the community in several districts that were used as a basis by the Petitioners did not meet the administrative requirements set out in the KPU technical guidelines. As evidence, the Respondent showed documents that have been filed to the Deiyai Regency KPU as valid recapitulation results, which are in accordance with the established vote-counting procedures.

Although the Petitioners claimed that there had been missing votes in several districts, including East Tigi, Kapiraya, and Bouwobado, the Respondent denied the allegation by producing official documents that recorded the valid votes. The Respondent also asserted that there were no objections or reports from the Relevant Party on any significant violations of the election results.

Legal counsel for Candidate Pair Number 5 Kornelis Pakage and Bendiktus Pekei (Relevant Party) William Sinaga expressed their objections to the various arguments filed by the Petitioners. The Relevant Party strongly denied all the allegations the Petitioners alleged by stating that there was no evidence of fraud conducted by the Relevant Party during the election.

The Relevant Party also responded to the Petitioners’ allegation regarding restrictions on access to several villages in the West Tigi District. They emphasized that there had been no restriction on the Petitioners entering the villages, and the allegation of threats with sharp weapons was also not proven. The Relevant Party reminded that if there had been indeed any violations, it should have been reported to the Deiyai Regency Bawaslu.

“The Petitioners never reported the allegations of fraud to the Deiyai Regency Bawaslu, but they never did,” Sinaga emphasized.

The Relevant Party also refuted the Petitioners’ allegation of support from six villages in West Tigi District. They pointed out the discrepancy between the number of votes claimed by the Petitioners and the recorded vote count. The Relevant Parties requested that the Court reject the Petitioners’ arguments, which lacked clear and valid evidence.

“For the Petitioners’ request regarding the letter of support in Kapiraya, we have filed evidence PT-17 and PT-18 in the form of videos. The videos show the Kapiraya tribal chief reading out the letter of support from the village heads and giving 5,149 votes to Candidate Number 2. So, it is not true that the votes were given to Candidate Number 3,” Sinaga asserted.

The Relevant Party requested that the Court reject all arguments filed by the Petitioners and affirm the validity of the vote count results certified by the Deiyai Regency KPU.

Meanwhile, Bawaslu member Desepina Tatogo stated that in the Kapiraya District, there had been objections during the plenary meeting because the first agreement stated that 5,189 votes at the district level would be given to Candidate Number 2.

“The second agreement changed again in Kapiraya District. Forty outgoing votes were distributed to Candidate Pair Number 1. The third agreement changed again, as the community reunited and again asked the (district election committee) to transfer the votes back to Candidate Pair Number 2 Petrus Badokapa and Yohanes Adii,” he stated. 

In Bouwobado District, the community distributed votes to the five candidate pairs without any community agreement letter or statement from the tribal chief. The Respondent assumed that the voting and counting process had gone smoothly.

Also read: KPU Allegedly Ignored Noken Votes, Deiyai Regent Election Result Challenged

Candidate Pair Number 3 Yan Ukago and Stefanus Mote, or Petitioners of Case No. 181/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, argued that the election results had been disregarded by the Deiyai Regency.

The Petitioners argued that the significant violations that affected their votes were due to the Deiyai Regency KPU ignoring the results of the 2024 Deiyai regent election, which used the noken system.

They requested the Court to grant their petition in its entirety and annul the Deiyai Regency KPU Decree No. 39 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Deiyai regent election results dated December 5, 2024, which was announced at 18.45 WIT. The Petitioners also requested the Court to certified the correct results of the Deiyai regent election as follows: Ateng Edowal and Demianus Agapa received 9,444 votes, Petrus Badokapa and Yohanes Adil received 1,071 votes, Yan Ukago and Stefanus Mote received 33,098 votes, and Melkianus Mote and Ayub Pigome received 23,092 votes, with the total valid votes of 78,959 votes.

(*) The noken voting system is carried out by communities in Papua, either through public agreement on vote allocation or through the delegation of votes to a tribal leader.

Author               : Utami Argawati
Editor                : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                    : Tiara Agustina
Translator         : Dinita Aktivia/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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