Geyser Mangerongkonda as the Petitioner's legal counsel at the ruling hearing for case No. 213/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Manokwari election results dispute, Wednesday (2/5/2025). Photo by MKRI.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) - The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition for Case No. 213/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Manokwari regent election results dispute. The decision was read out at the ruling hearing held on Wednesday, February 5, 2025 in the plenary courtroom.

“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.

This decision was made because Candidate Pair 01 Bernard Sefnat Boneftar and Eddy Waluyo (Petitioners) failed to meet the vote margin threshold. As stipulated in Article 158 paragraph (2) letter a of Law Number 10 of 2016, the permissible vote margin between the Petitioners and the elected candidate pair (Relevant Party) must not exceed 2 percent or 1,993 votes.

However, based on the vote recapitulation, the Petitioners secured 44,674 votes, while Candidate Pair 02 Herus Indou and Mugiono (Relevant Party) received 54,978 votes. This resulted in a vote margin of 10.34 percent.

Accordingly, the Constitutional Court declared that the Petitioners lacked the legal standing to file the petition. "The Court finds that the Petitioners do not have the legal standing to file the a quo petition. Therefore, the Respondent's and Related Party's exceptions on the Petitioners’ legal standing are legally justified," stated Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh.

The Constitutional Court affirmed that the validity of Article 158 cannot be postponed or overridden, as the Petitioners failed to substantiate the arguments in their petition. Furthermore, the issues raised by the Petitioners had already been addressed by the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) in its supervisory capacity.

Additionally, the Court found no special incidents warranting a delay in the article’s applicability. "Therefore, there is no basis for the a quo petition to postpone the enforcement of Article 158 of Law Number 10 of 2016 on the Petitioners’ legal standing," stated Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh.

Also read:

Bernard-Eddy: 153 Polling Stations Flawed in Manokwari Regency Election

Manokwari KPU: Polls Relocated to Avoid 1-Million Rent

At the preliminary examination hearing, the Petitioners stated that 153 polling stations were flawed were flawed in terms of the utilization of the voter rights, including double voting, the use of voting rights of deceased people, and the use of voting rights of people who were not at the polling station, and the voter attendance list were unsigned. The Petitioners also alleged reserve ballots that were used entirely—reaching 100 percent or even 102.5 percent—without any official report. Additionally, they claimed that seven polling stations were relocated just a day before the election.

Based on the arguments, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Manokwari Regency KPU Decree No. 1325 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 Manokwari Regency election results and requested the Court to order the Manokwari KPU to carry out a revote in 153 polling stations.

Author  : Ashri Fadilla
Editor   : N. Rosi
Translator     : Nazila Rikhusshuba/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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