The Petitioners’ legal counsel attending the ruling hearing for Case No. 247/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 North Sumatera gubernatorial election results dispute, Tuesday (2/4). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) –The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition for case No. 247/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 North Sumatera gubernatorial election results dispute filed by Candidate Pair 2 Edy Rahmayadi-Hasan Basri Sagala. The verdict was read by Chief Justice Suhartoyo at the ruling hearing on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

Justice’s Right to Abstain

In an important note on this case, Chief Justice Suhartoyo mentioned that Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman exercised his right to abstain from participating in the decision and pronouncement of Decision No. 247/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025. “According to Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman, although it is unrelated to any past ethical decisions, this is purely a personal choice, as he feels that one of the candidate pairs is still related [to him],” the chief justice clarified.

Double Recount

In its legal consideration, delivered by Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah, the Court explained that the argument about the number of unused ballots in Medan City and several regencies such as Deli Serdang, Binjai, and three districts such as Kuala, Selesai, and Tinggi Raja was 2,367,833 ballots.

Referring to the argument above, the Court noted that the Petitioners had double counted their votes from Medan City, Deli Serdang Regency, Binjai Regency, Kuala District, Selesai District, and Tinggi Raja District, totaling 519,013 votes. However, these 519,013 votes had been included in the Petitioners’ total vote count as certified by the Respondent, which amounted to 2,009,311 votes.

Additionally, Justice Guntur stated that in claiming the remaining or unused ballots in the aforementioned areas totaling 2,367,833 ballots, the Petitioners had failed to provide sufficient arguments or evidence. “Furthermore, even if the Petitioners’ allegation were true, it would remain uncertain which candidate pair would have received the ballots if they had been used. Hence, the Court finds the Petitioners’ argument legally groundless,” Justice Guntur explained.

Key Election Organizers

On the Safari Dakwah event in the 2024 North Sumatra gubernatorial election, which involved North Sumatra interim governor Agus Fatoni, the Court examined the Petitioners’ argument, the Respondent’s response, the Relevant Party’s testimony, and the submitted evidence. The Court found that the Petitioners had failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate the claim. As a result, there was no proof that the interim governor had given special treatment to Bobby Nasution. Meanwhile, Bobby Nasution was present at the Safari Dakwah event as a part of his official duties as the mayor of Medan, who, in his position, also served as the core committee member for the XXI PON (National Sports Week).

“Thus, the Court believes that the a quo petition is legally groundless. Hence, regarding the Petitioners’ petition, there is no reason to postpone the validity of the provisions of Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Petitioners’ legal standing as a formal requirement in filing a petition for disputes over the results of the regional head election to the Court,” said Justice Guntur.

Different Vote Acquisitions

Justice Guntur further stated that the Petitioners’ vote acquisition was 2,009,311 votes, while the Relevant Party’s (the most-voted candidate pair) was 3,645,611 votes, indicating the vote margin between these two candidate pairs was 1,636,300 votes (28.94%) or more than 28,275 votes.

“Despite the Petitioners being a candidate pair for governor and deputy governor in the 2024 North Sumatra gubernatorial election, they did not fulfill the requirements for filing the petition under Article 158 paragraph (1) letter d of Law No. 10 of 2016. Therefore, the Petitioners had no legal standing to file the petition. Thus, the Respondent’s and the Relevant Party’s exceptions that the Petitioners did not have legal standing were legally justified,” Justice Guntur explained.

Also read:

North Sumatra Governor Election Criticized for Organizers, Civil Servants’ Partiality

North Sumatra KPU Explains Delayed Voting Due to Flooding

At the preliminary hearing on Monday, January 13, 2025, the Petitioners filed for the annulment of the North Sumatra KPU Decree No. 495 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 North Sumatra governor elections result. The Petitioners mentioned the vote acquisition of Candidate 01 M. Bobby Afif Nasution-Surya received 3,645,611 votes, while the Petitioners received 2,009,611 votes with a total valid vote count of 5,654,922. Meanwhile, according to the Petitioners, the correct vote count is that Candidate 01 received 3,645,611 votes, while the Petitioners received 4,896,157 votes, with a total of 8,541,768 valid votes.

The Petitioners also argued about the low voter turnout due to flooding affecting several areas in North Sumatra, as follows: Medan City, Binjai City, Deli Serdang Regency, Langkat Regency, and Asahan Regency. This led to the limited accessibility of voters which resulted in the reluctance of voters to go to the polls due to impassable access, so voters preferred to stay home. For the alleged structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations, the Petitioners requested the Court to order the North Sumatera Provincial KPU to conduct a revote at all polling stations throughout the regions in North Sumatra Province, at least in three regencies/cities and three districts affected by the natural disaster of flooding, which resulted in low voter turnout.

Author: Sri Pujianti
Editor: N. Rosi
Translator: Syifa Amelia/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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