The Petitioners’ legal counsel Tri Wiyono Susilo at the ruling hearing for case No. 265/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 East Java gubernatorial election results dispute, Tuesday (2/4/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition filed by candidate 3 Risma-Gus Hans for the Case No. 265/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 concerning the 2024 East Java gubernatorial election results dispute, finding their arguments legally groundless.

“On the petition’s subject matter, [the Court] declares the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible,” stated Chief Justice Suhartoyo delivering the verdict at a ruling hearing on Tuesday evening, February 5, 2025 in the plenary courtroom.

Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra stated that the Petitioners’ argued that D-result-KWK-governor form had been manipulated by deleting votes for candidate pairs 1 and 3 votes and submitting a different form. Evidence showed corrections made with a correction pen to correct votes for candidate pairs 1 and 3. Additionally, the Court also found two versions of C-result-KWK-governor form, dated November 27 and 28 at 30 polling stations across Galis and Konang Districts in Bangkalan Regency.

The Court reviewed the Petitioners’ submitted evidence, which indicated correction marks on the C-result-KWK-governor form. These marks did not comply with Article 37 of KPU (General Elections Commission) Regulation No. 17 of 2024, which specifies that corrections should be made by crossing out with two horizontal lines.

The Court found that the C-result-KWK-governor form, recapitulated in the D-result-KWK-governor, was a follow-up version dated November 28, 2024. However, the Court could not assess whether this form was filled in accordance with the laws and regulations due to obscure arguments and chronological events of legal events.

However, the Court found that the evidence contained the Petitioners witnesses’ signatures, so it could not be concluded that the C-result-KWK-governor had manipulated or affected the vote result for any candidate pair. Even if it had been manipulated, quod non, the 30 polling stations argued by the Petitioners would not significantly impact the vote results.

“Based on the above legal considerations, the Court found the Petitioners’ argument that the C-result-KWK-governor form was manipulated by deleting votes for candidates 1 and 3 and by sending a different follow-up version of the form legally unreasonable,” Saldi said.

Based on the legal considerations above, the Court found no reason to override Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2016 concerning Regional Elections regarding the Petitioners’ legal standing in filing the petition. Additionally, the Court also did not find any special events that harmed the 2024 East Java gubernatorial election. Therefore, the Court deemed it irrelevant to proceed with the a quo petition to the evidentiary hearing.

Saldi explained that, to file an election results dispute, the vote margin must be within 0.5 percent of the total valid votes (or 103,663 votes), taken from 20,732,592 votes certified by the East Java KPU. Meanwhile, the difference between the Petitioners (6,743,095 votes) and the leading candidate pair (12,192,165 votes) was 5,449,070 votes (26.3 percent), which exceeded the 0.5 percent requirement.

The 2024 East Java governor election was contested by three candidate pairs: candidate pair 01 Luluk Nur Hamidah-Lukmanul Khakim with 1,797,332 votes, candidate pair 02 Khofifah Indar Parawansa-Emil Elestianto Dardak with 12,192,165 votes, and candidate pair 03 Risma-Gus Hans with 6,743,095 votes. The total number of valid votes amounted to 20,732,592, while 1,204,610 votes were invalid. However, the Petitioners alleged that additional votes were inflated votes for candidate pair 02 across

Also read:

East Java Governor Election Results Dispute: Risma-Gus Hans Reveal Vote Manipulation and Impact of Social Assistance Distribution

KPU Denies Alleged Manipulation of East Java Regent Election Vote Recap

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Decree of East Java KPU No. 63 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 East Java governor election results, which was issued in Surabaya on December 9, 2024, at 21:30 WIB. The Petitioners also requested the Court to disqualify the candidate pair Khofifah-Emil, arguing that they had committed structured, systematic, and massive violations during the 2024 East Java governor election.

The Petitioners requested the Court to determine the correct vote acquisition based on their petitioner’s version for the election in the East Java KPU Decree No. 63 of 2024, as follows: Luluk-Lukmanul with 1,797,332 votes and Risma-Gus Hans with 6,743,095 votes. The Petitioners also requested the Court to order the East Java KPU to carry out a revote in the East Java governor election at all polling stations in the province, with the participation of Candidate Pair 01 and Candidate Pair 03, excluding Candidate Pair 02.

Author                           : Mimi Kartika
Editor                            : N. Rosi
Translator                     : Ryan Alfian/Yuniar Widiastuti (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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