The ruling hearing for case No. 126/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Kerinci regent 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. 103/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Bone Bolango regent election results dispute inadmissible. The ruling for the petition, filed by candidate pair 1 Merlan S Uloli and Syamsu T Botutihe, was held in the plenary courtroom on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.

“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.

The Petitioners alleged an administrative violation committed by vice regent candidate Risman Tolingguhu. The violation in question was the submission of a GED diploma whose validity is questionable.

Addressing the argument, in the legal considerations delivered by Justice Enny Nurbaningsih, the Court viewed that the legal facts have also been revealed at the hearing on January 23, 2025, that Bone Bolango Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) had admitted the report alleging dubious GED diploma and debt that harmed state finances. They investigated the report and declared that it did not meet the formal requirements.

“Also, the Court did not find objections and special incidents convincing the Court regarding the a quo petition. Therefore, the Court viewed the Petitioners’ a quo argument legally groundless,” asserted Justice Enny.

The Court also considered the Petitioners’ legal standing on the votes margin. In filing an election dispute over Bone Bolango regent election, the vote results between the Petitioners and the candidate pair winning the most votes must not exceed 2 percent of the 106,528 total valid votes (or 2,131 votes).

“The Petitioners’ vote acquisition was 33,605 votes, while that of the Relevant Party (the leading candidate pair) was 36,991 votes, so the vote margin between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party was 36,991 minus 33,605 votes, meaning 3,386 votes (32 percent) or more than 2,131 votes,” Justice Enny explained.

The Court held that despite the Petitioners being the regent-vice regent candidate in the 2024 Bone Bolango election, they did not meet the provisions for filing a petition under Article 158 paragraph (2) letter a of Law 10 of 2016. Therefore, the Court declared the Petitioner not having legal standing to file the petition. Consequently, the exceptions of the Respondent and the Relevant Party that the Petitioners did not have legal standing were reasonable according to law.

Also read:

Dubious Diploma under Scrutiny in Bone Bolango Regent Election

Bone Bolango Elections Commission: No Issues Found with Ismet-Risman’s Documents

Bone Bolango Regent Candidate Pair 1 Merlan S. Uloli and Syamsu T. Botutihe (Petitioners) alleged an administrative violation committed by vice regent candidate Risman Tolingguhu. The violation in question was the submission of a GED diploma whose validity is questionable. The Petitioners believed this to be in violation with Regional Election Law and the KPU (General Elections Commission) Regulation No. 8 of 2024. Thus, in their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to grant their petition in its entirety and to annul the Bone Bolango KPU Decree No. 1545 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 Bone Bolango regent election results.

Author               : Utami Argawati
Editor                : Lulu Anjarsadri P.
PR                     : Fauzan Febriyan
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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