Yudha-Baharudin Lacked Legal Standing to Challenge Palembang Election
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The Petitioners’ legal counsel Hendra Yospin at the ruling hearing for case No. 110/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Palembang mayoral election results dispute, Wednesday (2/5/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.


JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) rendered the petition for Case No. 110/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Palembang mayoral election results dispute inadmissible. The decision for the petition filed by Candidate Pair 3 Yudha Pratomo–Baharudin was delivered at a ruling hearing on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, chaired by Chief Justice Suhartoyo.

“[The Court] adjudicated, on the petition’s subject matter, declaring the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible,” stated Chief Justice Suhartoyo reading out the verdict.

In its legal considerations, delivered by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, the Court views that the allegation of structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations was legally justified. Additionally, the Court did not identify any special conditions/incidents in the petition.

The Court also highlighted the vote margin threshold serving as a formal requirement of the case. In accordance with the Article 158 paragraph (2) letter d of the Regional Election Law, the vote difference has to be at most 0.5 percent, or in this case 3,790 votes, for the Petitioners to have a legal standing in the Palembang mayoral election results dispute.

“However, the vote acquisition of the Relevant Party and the Petitioners are 352,696 votes and 229,895 votes, the difference is 122,801 votes or 16.19 percent, or exceeding 3,790 votes,” Justice Arief stated.

Hence, in its legal considerations, the Court held that as a mayor candidate pair the Petitioners did not satisfy the requirements stipulated in Article 158 mentioned above.

“Therefore, the Court finds that Petitioners did not have the legal standing to file the a quo petition. Thus, the Respondent’s and the Relevant Party’s exceptions regarding the Petitioners' legal standing were reasonable according to law,” said Justice Arief.

The Court also took into consideration the rotation of the Palembang Regency Government officials six months before the candidate pair certification on September 22, 2024 as alleged by the Petitioners. Upon examination, the Court found it true that the Relevant Party, then-acting regent, had filed four requests to transfer and promote officials to the South Sumatra interim governor from January to May 7, 2024.

Due to the exemption stated in Article 71 paragraph (2) of Regional Election Law, the allegations reported to the Palembang Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) could not be declared as a finding of violation by the Respondent or the Relevant Party. “Therefore, the Court finds that Petitioners' arguments in the a quo petition did not have legal standing,” Justice Arief concluded.

Also read:

Yudha Pratomo-Baharudin Challenge the Palembang Mayor Election Results

Palembang KPU: Administrative Violations Fall Under Bawaslu’s Authority, Not the Court

At the preliminary examination hearing held on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, the Petitioners alleged substantial violations in the election had benefited Candidate Pair 02 Ratu Dewa and Prima Salam (Relevant Party). They emphasized the alleged involvement of Herison, Secretary of the Palembang Civil Service Police Unit, in openly campaigning for Candidate Pair 02. Herison, who had recently been appointed to his position, was accused of actively promoting the Relevant Party through his personal Instagram account. Furthermore, as head of RT 88 (neighborhood unit) RW 08 (community unit) in Sukajaya Village, Sukarami District, Herison was alleged to have used his authority to persuade residents to vote for the Relevant Party.

The Petitioners also emphasized that they had reported the alleged violation to the Palembang Bawaslu. They claimed that the vote acquisition of Candidate Pair 02 did not reflect the genuine aspiration of the people but was influenced by actions that contradicted the principles of direct, public, free, confidential, honest, and fair elections. Therefore, based on Article 71 paragraph (6) of Law Number 10 of 2016, the Petitioners requested the Court to disqualify Candidate Pair 02 from the election contest.

Author            : Utami Argawati
Editor             : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                 : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator       : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/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.


Wednesday, February 05, 2025 | 11:55 WIB 22