The ruling hearing for case No. 298/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Paniai election results dispute, Wednesday (2/5/2025). Photo by MKRI.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled the petition for case No. 298/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 filed by Candidate Pair 3 Nason Uti-Jhon Deki Yogi on the 2024 Paniai regent election results dispute inadmissible. The Court also did not find any reason to override Article 158 on the Regional Election Law as the formal requirements to file a petition.

“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 Wednesday, February 4, 2025.

In its legal considerations, presented by Constitutional Justice Ridwan Mansyur, the Court reviewed the response from the Respondent, the Paniai Regency KPU (Elections Commission), which denied allegations that its chairperson and members had been arrested for bribing the Paniai police chief to secure a specific candidate pair’s victory. The Court stated that even if the Petitioners’ allegations were true, they needed to connect the incident to other supporting facts demonstrating a series of actions that could have influenced the election results in favor of a candidate pair.

“The Petitioners must base it on facts and support it with evidence that convinces the Court,” said Justice Ridwan.

At the examination hearing on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, it was revealed that the Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) had issued Decree No. 33-PKE-DKPP/I/2025 the previous day. The Court deemed it important to take these legal facts into account, as the arguments and evidence presented were also considered in the DKPP’s decision.

Essentially, the DKPP’s decision aligned with and was closely related to the arguments presented by the Petitioners. Furthermore, the DKPP ruled that the election organizers had committed ethical violations and imposed sanctions accordingly. The DKPP found that the actions of the election organizers in Paniai Regency breached the ethical standards and code of conduct that they were expected to uphold.

Regarding the provision of money to security forces, the DKPP found that it was intended to facilitate the smooth execution of the vote recapitulation process. However, given its focus on moral and ethical considerations, the DKPP concluded that the action was inappropriate and should not have been undertaken by the organizers. It was deemed improper as it could undermine the integrity of both the election organizing body and the police.

“After reading the DKPP a quo decision and assessing the evidence in the form of a video submitted by the Petitioners to the Court and carefully reading the DKPP’s decision regarding sanctions for the Paniai Regency election organizers, the Court did not find a correlation between the incident and the vote acquisition of the candidate pair. Thus, the Petitioners’ a quo argument was legally groundless,” explained Justice Ridwan.

The Court determined that there was no justification for disregarding Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2016 on Regional Election Law concerning the Petitioners’ legal standing as a formal requirement for filing the 2024 Paniai regent election results petition. Furthermore, it also did not find any incidents that could be considered to have harmed the implementation of the 2024 Paniai regent election. As a result, the Court deemed it unnecessary to proceed with further examination or an evidentiary hearing.

According to the Paniai KPU’s certification, Justice Ridwan explained that, of 115,424 valid votes, the vote margin between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party—the most voted candidate pair—should not exceed 2 percent, or 2,309 votes. However, the Petitioners received 24,894 votes, while the Relevant Party secured 54,763 votes, resulting in a vote margin of 29,869 votes, equivalent to 25.9 percent. This significantly exceeded the 2 percent threshold of 2,309 votes.

The Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Paniai KPU Decree No. 48 of 2024 on the certification of the Paniai regent election vote count recapitulation dated December 14, 2024. They proposed a corrected vote acquisition count as follows: Candidate Pair 01 Yan Piet Nawipa-Ham Yogi with 23,082 votes, Candidate Pair 02 Rooby Kayame-Hengki Kudiai with 17,395 votes, Candidate Pair 03 Nason Uti-Jhon Deki Yogi with 43,364 votes, Candidate Pair 04 Thomas Yeimo-Yeri Adii with 18,271 votes, and Candidate Pair 05 Ottopianus Gobai-Deki Nawipa with 7,316 votes. Alternatively, the Petitioners requested that the Court order the Paniai KPU to conduct a revote at all polling stations/villages/districts in the regency and direct the Central KPU to replace all commissioners of the Paniai KPU.

Author              : Mimi Kartika
Editor               : Tiara Agustina
Translator         : Syifa Amelia/Yuniar Widiastuti (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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