The Relevant Party’s legal counsel Maharani Siti Shopia testifying in the examination hearing of case No. 283/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Nabire Regent election results dispute, Thursday (1/30/2025) in panel 3 courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Bayu
JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Nabire Election Commission (KPU), as the Respondent, provided testimony regarding six alleged violations in the Nabire regent elections. Their first argument addressed the alleged violations that resulted in a revote at five polling stations (TPS), namely TPS 7 Oyehe, TPS 12 Karang Mulia, TPS 9 Karang Tumaritis, TPS 9 Siriwini, and TPS 11 Siriwini.
The Respondent’s legal counsel, Abdul Haris delivered the statement during the hearing of Case No. 225/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025. The hearing included the Respondent’s response, testimonies by the Relevant Party and Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and evidence validation. Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat presided over the hearing, accompanied by Justices Anwar Usman and Enny Nurbaningsih in panel 3 courtroom on Thursday, January 30, 2025.
The Respondent stated that the revote in five polling stations, based on the recommendation of the Nabire Regency Bawaslu, was conducted on December 3, 2024. It went smoothly with no objections from all candidate pairs witnesses, as confirmed by the testimony of the district election committee and the supervisory committee.
Second, the Respondent addressed the alleged violations of non-neutrality of the state civil apparatus, stating it was not under the authority of the Nabire Regency KPU. The Respondent also denied the third argument, stating that the Nabire Regency KPU was unprofessional in the implementation of the Nabire regent election.
Fourth, regarding the allegation that the Nabire Regency Bawaslu failed to fulfill its supervisory duties in the Nabire regent election, the Respondent refuted this claim, asserting that the supervision had been properly conducted. As a result, the Nabire Regency Bawaslu issued a recommendation for a revote at five polling stations, which was duly followed up and implemented by the Respondent.
On the fifth argument that the regent candidate pair 1(Martinus Adii) harassed a state civil apparatus at TPS 5 in Nabire City District, the Respondent stated that the Nabire Police had investigated the incident, and stated it had no impact on the vote results in the Nabire regent election.
Lastly, responding to the Petitioners’ arguments that the elections in Papua were complicated, the Nabire Regency KPU deemed the argument unclear. The Petitioners cited a few studies and research but did not elaborate its impact on the vote recapitulation results in the Nabire regent election.
“Regarding the Petitioners’ six main arguments, if juxtaposed with the evidence submitted by the Petitioners, the evidence included a printout of a website page, an online media news [article], a social media [post], and a book cover, Your Honors, the validity of the submitted evidence is questionable,” Abdul explained.
“As such, we rejected all of the Petitioners’ arguments,” Abdul emphasized.
Candidate pair 2 Mesak Magai-Burhanuddin Pawennari (the Related Party), through their legal counsel, stated that the Petitioners in their petitums only requested the Nabire Regency KPU to annul the certification results but did not specify the error and the correct version of the recapitulation results.
“As such, the Petitioners’ posita and petitums did not match and were irrelevant, causing the Petitioners’ petition to be confusing and misleading,” Ahmad said.
Ahmad continued that the Petitioners only described a general overview of the vulnerability of regional head elections in Papua. The Petitioner did not specifically describe the evidence of alleged violations in the Nabire regent election, which was considered not the dispute object.
“The Petitioner’s petition in a quo case based their arguments solely on the sociological narrative aspect related to the general implementation of regent election in Papua. Such an argument was not based on legal analysis, making it not as relevant and urgent to be assessed, examined, and tested by the Honorable Justices of the Constitutional Court,” Ahmad said.
The Nabire Regency Bawaslu Head, Gian Mario Kapisa stated that they supervised all stages of the Nabire regent election, including the issuance of recommendations to revote at TPS 7 Oyehe, TPS 12 Karang Mulia, TPS 9 Karang Tumaritis, TPS 9 Siriwini, and TPS 11 Siriwini.
Nabire Regency Bawaslu also found allegations of violations regarding civil apparatus neutrality and sought clarifications, resulting in the recommendation issuance of a few civil apparatus to the National Civil Service Agency (BKN). “As for the neutrality and professionalism of election organizers, the Nabire Regency Bawaslu had issued an advisory letter on the recruitment of election organizers, including district election committee and polling station working committee, that we submitted as evidence,” Gian explained.
Read also: Citta Loka Foundation Alleges Violations in Nabire Regent Election
In the preliminary hearing, Delpedro Marhaen Rismansyah, an election observer from the Citta Loka Taru Foundation, argued six violations in the Nabire regent election results dispute. He argued that the first identified violation was by the election organizers in five polling stations.
The second finding involved a violation of the neutrality of officials and state civil apparatus. Allegations were made regarding the non-neutrality of the Head of the National Unity and Politics Agency (Kesbangpol) of Nabire Regency, who was reportedly supporting candidate pair 2. Similar allegations were raised against the Head of the Nabire Health Service for providing support as well.
The third violation pertains to the neutrality and professionalism of the election organizers. Evidence of the non-neutrality and non-professionalism of the Nabire KPU was proven by the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) regarding the failure to hold a plenary meeting in determining the District Election Committee Secretariat (PPD), which did not meet the requirements and the assault on the Nabire KPU Secretary.
The fourth is the failure of the supervision function and follow-up of regional election violations by the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). The fifth finding concerned intimidation and violence during the plenary vote count recapitulation, allegedly carried out by regent candidate 01, Martinus Adii, at TPS 5 in Nabire District.
In their petitums, the Petitioner requested the Court to annul the Nabire KPU Decree No. 580 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Nabire regent election results; order the Nabire KPU to repeat the stages of the implementation, starting from the announcement for the registration of candidate pairs up to the determination of the elected candidate pair; and instruct the Nabire Bawaslu to carry out its duties and exercise its authority during the election.
Furthermore, the Petitioner requested that the Court order the KPU of the Republic of Indonesia to supervise and coordinate with the KPU of Central Papua and the KPU of Nabire, and order the Bawaslu of the Republic of Indonesia to supervise and coordinate with the Bawaslu of Central Papua and the Bawaslu of Nabire Regency in executing the Court’s decision.
Author : Nawir Arsyad Akbar
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Tiara Agustina
Translator : Ryan Alfian/FS (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.
Thursday, January 30, 2025 | 14:40 WIB 205