The Relevant Party’s legal counsel Dominggus Frans testifying at the examination hearing for case No. 128/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Mappi regent election results dispute, before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani in panel 2 courtroom, Thursday (1/30/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Mappi regent-vice regent candidate pair 3 Kristosimus Yohanes Agawemu dan Sanusi (Relevant Party) denied the arguments of candidate pair 5 Benediktus Amoiye dan Benedictus Tori Paliling (Respondent) alleging discrepancies in data tabulation between voter data, the number of final voters list, and the number of final voters who exercised their right to vote in the 2024 Mappi regent election. The Relevant Party’s legal counsel Edward Sakthi delivered the statement at the hearing for case No.  128/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025. Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra presided over the hearing, accompanied by Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani, on Thursday, January 30, 2025. The hearing included the Respondent’s response, testimonies by the Relevant Party and the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and evidence validation.

Also read: Data Tabulation Gap, Vote Buying Revealed in Mappi Election Case

Edward Sakthi stated that the Petitioners had only submitted their version of vote tabulation results without including the correct recapitulation by the Respondent. Article 8 paragraph (3b) number 4 of the Constitutional Court Regulation No. 3 of 2024 regulates that the reasons for filing a petition must contain an explanation of the errors in the vote count results certified by the Respondent and the correct vote count results.

“[The Petitioners] compared the recapitulation where the vote acquisition results remained the same from polling station to regency levels, and violations that were said to have been committed by the Relevant Party, all of which are unclear and false,” said Edward.

Edward also denied the Petitioners’ argument that the Relevant Party had committed vote-buying by sending public invitations through Facebook groups to vote, promising Rp500,000 to those who voted for them. He emphasized that this allegation was false.

As such, in their petitums, the Relevant Party requested the Court to dismiss the Petition in its entirety and to declare valid and binding the Mappi Regency KPU decree on the certification of the 2024 Mappi regent-vice regent vote results dated December 4, 2024.

Meanwhile, the Mappi Regency KPU’s (Elections Commission) legal counsel Firman Nurhakim stated that the Respondent was not aware of the incident. The Petitioners also did not report the incident to the Mappi Regency Bawaslu, resulting in the Respondent never receiving any clarification or recommendation on this incident.

As such, in their petitums, the Respondent also requested the Court to reject the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety and to declare the validity of the 2024 Mappi regent-vice regent election results.

On behalf of the Mappi Regency Bawaslu, Michael Meypen testified on the Petitioners’ two arguments, stating that the Mappi Regency Bawaslu had never received any reports or findings of election violations and election disputes regarding the gap in data tabulation and the alleged vote-buying by the Relevant Party through a Facebook group.

 

Read also:

Petition for Case No. 128/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025
Respondent’s response
Relevant Party’s statement
Bawaslu’s statement

 

Author               : Ahmad Sulthon Zainawi
Editor                : N. Rosi
Translator         : Ryan Alfian/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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