The Petitioners’ legal counsel attending the ruling hearing for Case No.193/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the Kendari mayoral election results dispute, Wednesday (2/5/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, the Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition for case No. 193/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Kendari mayoral election results dispute. This case was filed by candidate pair 2 Yudhianto Mahardika Anton Timbang and Nirnah Lachmuddin (Petitioners). Chief Justice Suhartoyo presided over the ruling hearing alongside the other eight constitutional justices in the plenary courtroom.

Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah explained the Court's legal considerations regarding the Petitioner’s argument that a number of individuals who were not eligible voters had been allowed to vote at the polling stations. The Court considered this argument to have been addressed by the Kendari City Elections Commission (KPU) according to prevailing regulations. Therefore, the Court did not find the Petitioners’ argument, nor the argument about ballots that were used but either unaccounted or missing, valid.

“Regarding the Petitioners’ arguments, the Court considered it has been followed up in accordance with the prevailing regulations. As such, the Court viewed the Petitioners’ argument legally baseless,” explained Justice Guntur.

The Petitioners received 51,598 votes, while the Relevant Party (the leading candidate pair) obtained 61,831 votes. The vote margin between the two was 61,831 votes, which later added with 41,044 votes, equals 20,787 votes (or 11.07 percent) or more than 2,816 votes, which was the threshold for the dispute. Hence, the Petitioners did not have legal standing to file a quo petition for election results dispute. Consequently, the Court found the exceptions of the Respondent and the Relevant Party, which essentially stated that the Petitioners lacked legal standing, reasonable according to law.

“[The Court] adjudicated, on exceptions: to grant the Respondent’s and the Relevant Party’s exceptions regarding the Petitioners’ legal standing, to reject the Respondent’s and the Relevant Party’s exceptions for the remainder; on the petition’s subject matter: to declare the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo.

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195 Polling Stations Committed Violation in Kendari Mayoral Election

Kendari KPU Clarifies Revote Recommendation at Polling Station 008 in Kemaraya Village

At the preliminary hearing on January 15, 2025, the Petitioners alleged several violations in the election results, including instances where individuals who were not eligible voters were allowed to vote, voters who exercised their voting rights more than once, and individuals who lost their voting rights. These violations were found in 195 polling stations (TPS) across 11 districts, covering 37 villages. After adjusting the vote count from these 195 TPS, the vote difference between the Petitioners and Candidate Pair 01, which initially stood at 20,787 votes, was reduced to 13,934 votes. Additionally, the valid votes in these 195 TPS amounted to 67,557, significantly impacting the Petitioners' vote acquisition. Therefore, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Kendari City KPU (election commission) Decree No. 541 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 Kendari City Mayoral election results and carry out a revote at those polling stations.

Author               : Sri Pujianti
Editor                : Tiara Agustina
Translator         : Ryan Alfian/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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