The ruling hearing for case No. 242/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Nduga regent election results dispute, Wednesday (2/5/2025). Photo by MKRI.
JAKARTA (MKRI) — On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, the Constitutional Court (MK) finds no intimidation by the customary community councils, political party leaders, and the campaign team of the regent-vice regent candidates 2 Dinar Kelnea-Yoas Beon (the Relevant Party). The Nduga Regency Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) also did not find violations and/or reports on the Petitioners’ arguments. Constitutional Justice Ridwan Mansyur read the legal considerations in the ruling hearing for this case No. 242/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Nduga regent election results dispute, presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo.
Regarding the candidate pair 1 (Petitioners)’ argument that State Civil Apparatus (ASN) were involved in polling stations influencing voters to support a particular candidate pair, the Court did not have confidence in its validity as Nduga Regency Bawaslu never found the alleged violation.
“[The Nduga Regency] Bawaslu had conducted preventive efforts by issuing a letter dated October 17, 2024, to the Nduga Regency acting regent to consider to the joint decree of Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform, Head of the National Civil Service Agency, and Head of Indonesian Civil Service Commission. As such, the Court viewed the Petitioners’ a quo argument as legally groundless,” explained Justice Ridwan Masyur.
Regarding the Petitioners' argument that their votes were reduced at the polling station (TPS), district, and regency election committee levels by the Respondent, the Court found the claim unsubstantiated. The Court expressed doubt over the validity of this allegation, as Nduga Regency Bawaslu had never received any report of such violations through the established violation-handling mechanism. Consequently, the Court deemed the Petitioners’ argument legally baseless. The Petitioners secured 46,167 votes, while the Relevant Party (the candidate pair with the highest votes) obtained 51,815 votes. This resulted in a vote margin of 5,648 votes (5.76 percent), exceeding the 1,959-vote threshold required to file a petition.
“[The Court] adjudicated, on the exception: 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 while reading out the verdict for this case.
Also Read
Alleged Intimidation in Nduga Regent Election Disclosed
Noken System Mechanism in the Nduga Regional Election
At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, January 16, 2025, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the Nduga Regency KPU Decree No. 829 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Nduga Regency election results. They mentioned the vote count as follows: The Petitioners received 46,167 votes and Candidate Pair 02 Dinar Kelnea–Yoas Beon obtained 51,815 votes, with a total of 97,982 valid votes. However, the Petitioners contested this result, asserting that they had received 50,131 votes, while Candidate Pair 02 secured 47,852 votes, with a total of 97,983 valid votes.
The Petitioners attributed the difference in vote acquisition to several factors, including intimidation by the Indigenous Community Institution, political party leaders, and the candidate pair 02 campaign team; the involvement of ASN at the TPS (polling station) level in influencing voters to support a particular candidate pair; vote reduction for the Petitioners at both the TPS and PPD (regional election committee) /PPK (district election committee) levels; and further vote reduction at the Regency KPU level.
Thus, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the Nduga Regency KPU Decree No. 829 of 2024 concerning the certification of the 2024 Nduga Regency election results dated December 7, 2024 at 07:00 Local Time regarding the vote acquisition in 21 districts, Alama, Inikgal, Iniye, Mam, Mbua Tengah, Mbulmu Yalma, Mbuwa, Kora, Pija, Wutpaga, Wusi, Pasir Putih Paro, Nirkuri, Kenyam, Embetpem, Neggeagin, Mugi, Dal, Krepkuri, and Gearek. They also requested that the Court certify the vote acquisition results for the 2024 Nduga Regency candidate elections, which according to the Petitioners are correct as follows: Candidate Pair 01 obtained 59,068 votes and Candidate Pair Number 02 obtained 39,914 votes, with a total of 97,982 valid votes.
Author : Sri Pujianti
Editor : Fitri Yuliana
Translator : Ryan Alfian/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.
Wednesday, February 05, 2025 | 16:29 WIB 19