The Petitioners’ legal counsel Nasrullah at the ruling hearing for Case No. 52/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the South Halmahera regent election results dispute, Tuesday (2/4/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition for Case No. 52/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, filed by Candidate Pair 02 Rusihan Jafar and Muhtar Sumaila, on the South Halmahera regent election results dispute. The Court found the petition to be unclear or vague (obscuur libel).

“On the petition’s subject matter, [the Court] declares the Petitioners’ petition No. 52/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 inadmissible,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo at the ruling hearing held in the plenary courtroom on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

Constitutional Justice Arsul Sani explained that the Court found the petition did not meet the formal requirements. Consequently, the Court had no hesitation in declaring the petition unclear or vague (obscuur). As a result, the petition’s subject matter was not considered further.

"The petition for Case No. 52/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 does not meet the formal requirements. Therefore, the Court has no doubt in declaring the Petitioners’ petition unclear, vague, or obscuur," stated Justice Arsul. 

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At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners claimed that the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) of the regency was neither independent nor professional, as it dismissed and failed to register reports of violations without reviewing the report materials and evidence.

In addition, the Petitioners alleged several other violations, including the replacement of officials within six months before the determination of the candidate pair until the end of the term by Hassan Ali Bassam Kasuba, the incumbent Regent of South Halmahera. Other allegations included the misuse of authority, government programs, and activities to benefit the incumbent candidate in the South Halmahera regent election; vote buying; large-scale mobilization of state civil apparatus (ASN) to support the incumbent; politicization of grant funds for electoral advantage; and indications of bias by the district election committee and polling committee.

In the vote acquisition certified by the South Halmahera KPU, Candidate Pair 01 Bahrain Kasuba-Umar Hi Soleman obtained 22,362 votes, Candidate Pair 02 Rusihan Jafar-Muhtar Sumaila 36,144 votes, Candidate Pair 03 Hasan Ali Bassam Kasuba-Helmi Umar Muchsin 53,074 votes; and Candidate Pair 04 Jasri Usman-Muhlis Djafaar 12,526 votes. However, the Petitioners argued that Candidate Pair 03 should have won 0 votes for their conduct of systematic, structured, and massive (TSM) violations.

Author  : Mimi Kartika
Editor   : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator     : Nazila Rikhusshuba/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.

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