The petitioner attending the ruling hearing for Case Number 08/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 regarding the General Election Result DIspute of the Mayor of Lhokseumawe City on Tuesday (2/4/2025) in the plenary court of the Constitutional Court. Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

---

JAKARTA, MKRI - The Constitutional Court (MK) stated that Candidate Pair Number 3 Ismail and Azhar Mahmud, the Petitioners of Case No. 08/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 not having legal standing to file a dispute over the regional head election results at the Constitutional Court. This is because of the margin between the Petitioners’ vote and the candidate pair who won the most votes in the 2024 Lhokseumawe mayor election results passed the threshold certified by Article 158 of Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning Regional Head Elections.

“In the main point of the petition, [the Court] declaring the Petitioners petition  inadmissible,” stated Chief Justice Suhartoyo in the ruling hearing of the 2024 Lhokseumawe mayoral election results dispute on Tuesday, February 3, 2025, Jakarta.

In the Court's legal consideration, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra stated there was no reason to overrule the provisions of Article 158 of the Regional Election Law relating to the legal position of the Petitioners as a formal requirement in filing a petition for the 2024 Lhokseumawe mayor election results dispute. The Court did not find any special conditions or events that could be considered to have harmed the implementation of the 2024 Lhokseumawe mayor election so the Court considered it irrelevant to continue this petition to a follow-up hearing.

“Therefore, there is no relevance [for the Court] to continue a quo petition at the follow-up hearing with the agenda of evidence validation because, without a follow-up hearing with the agenda of evidence validation, the Court is convinced that the stages of the 2024 Lhokseumawe mayor election have been conducted in accordance with the stages and provisions,” Justice Saldi argue.

The difference in votes between the Petitioners and the winning candidate in the 2024 Lhokseumawe City mayoral election, which would allow the Petitioners to file a dispute, must not exceed 1,833 votes or 2 percent of the total valid votes certified by the Lhokseumawe City KIP (Aceh Independent Election Commission), which amounts to 91,636 votes. The Petitioners received 32,009 votes, while the Relevant Party secured 34,962 votes. Consequently, the difference in their vote acquisition is 2,953 votes (34,962 - 32,009), equivalent to 3.22 percent. Since this exceeds the 2 percent or 1,833-vote threshold, the Petitioners do not meet the requirement to dispute the election results.

Also Read:

Multiple Voting in Lhokseumawe City Election Challenged

Supervisory Committee: No Recommendation for Revote in Lhokseumawe Regency

The Petitioners argued that there were violations in the form of voters who double vote, but were allowed by the Voting Organisation Group (KPPS) officers, including voters who cast their votes in three different polling stations (TPS) close to each other. The Petitioners argued that the violations occurred at 17 polling stations in Muara Dua District, as follows: TPS 001, TPS 002, TPS 003, TPS 004 of Meunasah Blang Village; TPS 001, TPS 002, TPS 003, and TPS 004 of Menasah Mee Village; TPS 001, TPS 002, TPS 003, and TPS 004 of Blang Crum Village; TPS 001, TPS 002, and TPS 003 of Cut Mamplam Village; and TPS 001 and TPS 002 of Menasah Manyang Village.

However, the Court found that form C. Copies of the results for all the polling stations argued were signed by the Petitioners’ mandate witnesses. The mandate witness at the polling station also did not fill in or sign the Special Event Record or even submit an Objection. In addition, the three reports filed by the Petitioners to the Lhokseumawe City Panwaslih did not fulfill the formal and material requirements so all reports were not registered.

The petitioners request the Court to cancel the Lhokseumawe City KIP Decree No. 700 of 2024 concerning the recapitulation of the vote counting results of the 2024 Lhokseumawe mayor election dated December 2, 2024, as it concerns the vote acquisition at TPS 001, TPS 002, TPS 003, TPS 004 Meunasah Blang Village; TPS 001, TPS 002, TPS 003, and TPS 004 Menasah Mee Village; TPS 001, TPS 002, TPS 003, and TPS 004 Blang Crum Village; TPS 001, TPS 002, and TPS 003 Cut Mamplam Village; and TPS 001 and TPS 002 Menasah Manyang Village in Muara Dua District, Lhokseumawe City and ordered the Lhokseumawe city KIP to conduct re-vote at those polling stations. (*)

Author          : Mimi Kartika
Editor           : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR               : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator : Dinita Aktivia/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.

 

---