The Petitioners’ legal counsel Maxsi Nelson Ahoren at the ruling hearing for case No. 165/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 South Manokwari regent election results dispute, Wednesday (2/5/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the petition filed by Candidate Pair 3 Maxsi Nelson Ahoren-Imam Syafi’i. The ruling hearing for petition No. 165/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Manokwari regent election results dispute was held on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.

In its legal consideration, delivered by Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah, the Court explained the Petitioners’ argument regarding the allegation that Bernard Mandacan as regent candidate 1; Mesak Inyomusi vice-regent candidate 1; Frengky Mandacan as regent candidate 2; and Obeth Dowansiba as regent candidate 4 had remained civil servants after being certified as candidates for the 2024 South Manokwari regent election. The Court believed that this argument was not proven to be true because they had withdrawn their candidacy before the certification.

“Even based on Bawaslu’s (Election Supervisory Body) testimony, it has been stated that the report related to this did not meet formal and material requirements. Thus, the Court concludes that the a quo petition was legally groundless,” asserted Justice Guntur at the ruling hearing presided over by Chief Justice Suhartoyo and the other eight constitutional justices.

Justice Guntur stated that the Court found no certainty on the validity of the Petitioners’ main arguments. Therefore, the Court found no reason to disregard the provision of Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Petitioners’ legal standing in filing the petition. Meanwhile, the Petitioners received 4,292 votes, while the Relevant Party (the most-voted candidate pair) secured 10,138 votes. Thus, the vote margin of 5,846 votes (22.8%), which exceeded the required threshold of 514 votes.

“[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 while reading out the verdict for this case.

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South Manokwari Regent Candidates’ Civil-Servant Status Under Scrutiny

Clarification on South Manokwari Regent Candidates’ Civil Servant Status

At the preliminary hearing on Thursday, January 16, 2025, the Petitioners argued that Candidate Pair 01 Bernard Mandacan–Mesakh Inyomusi were no longer civil servants but remained on the payroll until October 2024. Regent candidate 02 Frengky Mandacan and regent candidate 04 Obeth Dowansiba remained civil servants until October 2024. These candidates should be disqualified in the 2024 South Manokwari regent election.

Therefore, the Petitioners filed a petition to annul the South Manokwari Regency KPU Decree No. 1433 of 2024 on the certification of the 2024 South Manokwari regent election results to the Court. The election was contested by four candidate pairs: Candidate Pair 01 Bernard Mandacan–Mesakh Inyomusi, Candidate Pair 02 Frengky Mandacan–Saul Rante Lembang, Candidate Pair 03 Maxsi Nelson Ahoren–Imam Syafi’i, and Candidate Pair 04 Obeth Dowansiba–Hengki Saiba.

The failure to investigate the validity of the candidates’ status in civil service reflects negligence, carelessness, and a lack of thoroughness on the part of the South Manokwari Elections Commission (KPU). Furthermore, the Petitioners asserted that not disqualifying these candidates violated Law No. 20 of 2023 in conjunction with Law No. 7 of 2017 and Government Regulation No. 94 of 2021 concerning civil servant discipline. Meanwhile, Candidate Pair 03 had previously resigned as member of the Papuan People’s Assembly (MRP) despite having no obligation to do so.

Author              : Sri Pujianti
Editor               : N. Rosi
Translator         : Syifa Amelia/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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