The Petitioners' legal counsel attending the ruling hearing for case No. 237/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 PHPU on the Sampang regent election results dispute, Wednesday (2/5/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition for Case No. 237/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Sampang regent election results dispute, filed by Candidate Pair 1 Gus Mamak and Mas AB. The Court rendered the case inadmissible as the arguments presented by the Petitioners were not reasonable according to law in the ruling hearing on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.

“[The Court adjudicated], on the petition’s subject matter, declaring the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible,” stated Chief Justice Suhartoyo reading out the verdict alongside the other eight constitutional justices.

In delivering the Court's legal considerations, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat noted that prior to distributing the C-notice KWK forms, the polling station working committee (KPPS) members delivered voting invites to voters listed in the final voters list at the latest three days before the election day. Hence, voters not receiving the C-notice KWK forms may present their electronic ID cards or resident biodata at the polling stations.

The Court also mentioned the vote buying practice alleged to the Relevant Party and deemed it not legally justified. The Court emphasized that there was no "special condition or incident" that provides a ground to postpone the enforcement of Article 158 of Regional Election Law concerning the Petitioners' legal standing.

As the vote difference between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party amounted to 43,877 votes or 6.93 percent, the Court declared that the Petitioners did not have the legal standing to file a petition.

"Considering the legal considerations above, the Court is of the opinion that, even though the Petitioners are Regent Candidate Pair 1 in the 2024 Sampang election, the Petitioners did not satisfy the requirements to file a petition as prescribed in Article 158 paragraph (2) letter d of Law No. 10 of 2016. Thus, according to the Court, the Petitioners did not have the legal standing to file the a quo petition. Thus, the Respondent's and the Relevant Party's exceptions that the Petitioners did not have legal standing is reasonable according to law," Justice Arief added

 

Also read:

Gus Mamak-Mas AB Dispute Sampang Regency Election Results

Sampang KPU Denies Arguments by Gus Mamak-Mas AB

At the preliminary hearing on Wednesday, January 8, 2024, the Petitioners argued that violations due to the lack of neutrality and the involvement of the election organizers in the simultaneous election in Sampang Regency were spread evenly across 11 out of 14 districts. Votes were also cast by ineligible individuals at 208 polling stations and it was spread in 11 districts and 60 villages. The Petitioners revealed that their team had uncovered dozens of deceased voters. Therefore, they believe violations in Sampang were massive.

Considering a large number of problems in Sampang, since November 29, 2024, the Petitioners’ team made reports of those violations to the Sampang Regency Bawaslu and the Provincial Bawaslu. They also uncovered evidence of violations by civil servants, in this case village heads or school principals, who failed to show neutrality and instead supported the Relevant Party.

Author  : Utami Argawati

Editor   : Fitri Yuliana

Translator     : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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.

 

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