Constitutional Justice Asrul Sani (left) delivering the ruling for case No. 89/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Dumai Mayoral election results dispute, Tuesday (2/4/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled the petition for case No. 89/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Dumai mayoral election results dispute inadmissible. The petition was filed by Candidate Pair 02 Ferdiansyah-Soeparto. The Court saw no reason to disregard Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2026 concerning the Regional Election relating to the formal requirements. Hence, the Petitioners lacked legal standing to file a petition for the 2024 Dumai City mayoral election results dispute.

“On the petition’s subject matter, [the Court] declares the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo at the ruling hearing alongside the other eight constitutional justices on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.

Constitutional Justice Arsul Sani explained that to be allowed to file a petition, the vote margin between the Petitioners and the most-voted candidate pair must have been 2,103 votes, or equivalent to 1.5% of the total valid votes from the final vote count of 140,222 votes, as certified by the Dumai City KPU (Elections Commission). Meanwhile, the vote margin between the Petitioners (31,319 votes) and the Relevant Party as the most-voted candidate pair (105,333 votes) was 74,014 votes, or 52.78%. Hence, the vote margin far exceeded the 1.5% threshold.

The Petitioners alleged violations committed by the Dumai City KPU as Respondent and Candidate Pair 3 Paisal-Sugiyarto as the Relevant Party during the Dumai mayoral election such as the Respondent failing to update voter data, not conducting proper dissemination of information, and distributing inappropriate voting invitations. Additionally, the Relevant Party, as the incumbent, was accused of campaigning before the election stages, mobilizing state civil servants (ASN) in the political contest, and using regional budgets for campaign purposes, including involving children in the campaign process.

However, after the examination hearing, the Court found no special incident that could be considered to have violated the proper conduct of the 2024 Dumai City mayoral election, which could justify overriding the provisions of Article 158 of the Regional Election Law. Therefore, the Court deemed it unnecessary to pursue further in the evidentiary hearing.

Also read:

Ferdiansyah-Soeparto Challenge Incumbent’s Victory in Dumai Mayoral Election

Dumai Elections Commission Denies Allegation of Failing to Distribute Vote Invitations

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to: 1) annul the Dumai City KPU Decree No. 449 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Dumai mayor-vice mayor election results; 2) declare invalid and cancel the announcement of Paisal and Sugiyarto as Dumai mayor-vice mayor candidates; 3) order the Dumai City KPU to do a revote no later than two months after the Court’s decision; and 4) order the KPU to disqualify Candidate Pair 3 in the revote.

Author: Mimi Kartika
Editor: Fitri Yuliana
PR: Fauzan Febriyan
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.

---