The Petitioners’ legal counsel Abdul Hakim attending the ruling hearing for Case No. 63/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, Tuesday (2/4/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition for case No. 63/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Bangkalan regent election results dispute filed by Candidate Pair 02 Mathur Husyairi-Jayus Salam. The verdict was read by Chief Justice Suhartoyo accompanied by eight other constitutional justices at the ruling hearing on Tuesday, February 4, 2025 in the plenary courtroom.

“[The Court] adjudicated, on the petition’s merit, to dismiss the Petitioners’ petition,” asserted Chief Justice Suhartoyo.

In its legal consideration, the Court stated that the petition did not meet the required vote margin threshold. According to Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2016, a petition for the regent election results can only be filed if the vote difference between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party—in this case Candidate Pair 1 Lukman Hakim and Moch Fauzan Ja’far—does not exceed 0.5 percent (equivalent to 2,651 votes).

However, the Petitioners received 211,201 votes and the Relevant Party 319,072 votes. Hence, the vote margin exceeded the threshold, namely 107,871 or equivalent to 20.34 percent. Therefore, the Court believed that the Petitioners had no legal standing to file a petition.

This threshold requirement could not be disregarded, as the Petitioners failed to prove to the Court the validity of their petition. “Accordingly, it is irrelevant to pursue the a quo petition further to the evidentiary hearing. Even without such proceedings, the Court is convinced that the stages of the 2024 Bangkalan regent election have been conducted following the established procedures and regulations,” stated Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh while delivering the Court’s legal considerations.

Also read:

Vote Buying in Bangkalan Regency Election Result Dispute

Allegations of Vote Buying in Bangkalan Regent Election Denied

At the preliminary hearing on January 8, 2025, the Petitioners alleged vote buying practice known as “serangan fajar” or “dawn attack” (lit.). In addition, they also argued the partiality of various parties, intimidation of witnesses, to the level of voter turnout in Bangkalan Regency, which reached 90 to 100 percent.

In the petitums, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the Bangkalan Regency KPU (Elections Commission) Decree No. 2376 on the certification of the 2024 Bangkalan regent election results. They also requested that the Court order the Bangkalan Regency KPU to disqualify Candidate Pair 1 and certify the Petitioners as the winner.

Author: Ashri Fadilla
Editor: Tiara Agustina
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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