Witnesses and experts for the Petitioners of case No. 47/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Sabang mayoral election results dispute, Monday (2/10/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Mayor Candidate Pair 3 Ferdiansyah-Muhammad Isa (Petitioners) presented the Director of Andalas University Center for Constitutional Studies (Pusako Unand) Charles Simabura as an expert in the evidentiary hearing for Case No. 47/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Sabang mayoral elections dispute. Simabura highlighted that an honest and fair election cannot be divorced from an upstanding and professional election organizer.

Before the panel 3 presided over by Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih, Simabura asserted that integrity and professionalism must be demonstrated by carrying out the entire election procedures according to the laws and regulations.

Simabura noted that the voting conducted outside of the designated time by the polling station working committee (KPPS) signified a lack of professionalism of the Sabang mayoral election organizer. The General Elections Commission (KPU) Regulation No. 17 of 2024 governed that elections be carried out between 07:00 and 13:00 local time. Specific to Aceh Province, the election is carried out between 08:00 and 14:00 local time, as instructed in the Aceh Independent Committee (KIP) Regulation No. 51 of 2024 on the 2024 regional elections in Aceh.

"In the event of closure or termination of the voting process outside of the designated hours, then such action may be deemed as an unprofessional act and violating the purity of the election result," stated Simabura before the panel.

Charles opined on one of the petition's arguments mentioning the people's loss of rights to vote due to verification errors conducted by the KPPS.

Due to such lack of professionalism of election organizers, the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) and the Court can instruct a revote, as provisioned in Article 112 paragraph (2) of the Regional Election Law.

The article stated that a revote may be carried out in a polling station provided at least one of the following conditions: unlawful opening of ballot boxes and ballots; signing or marking on used ballots by the KPPS officers; intentional damage to invalidate ballots; double voter; and/or voting by unregistered voters

Additionally, Charles noted that Bawaslu issued recommendations to revote at 780 polling stations in the 2024 general election and 154 polling stations in the 2024 regional elections.

"This means that a technical error, no matter how small, must be avoided lest there are presumptions of dishonesty and unprofessionalism, which may be abused by certain parties to violate the purity of the election result at the polling stations," Simabura added.

"In the event of technical errors in the [regional] election, especially pertaining to the voting at the polling stations, it is only appropriate to make corrections as it had been done previously through the mechanism of revote on the order of the Bawaslu and the Court as the conclusion of the regional election results dispute," Simabura concluded.

Voting Went On Past the Closing Time

At the hearing, the Petitioners' witness Muhammad Nasir stated that there were 13 voters in TPS 03 of Kuta Barat Village—in which he served as a mandate witness— who fell sick on the election day. One of them was Asmayadi, who was visited by KPPS officers, witnesses, and election supervisory committee (Panwaslih) at 13:30 WIB. Somehow, Asmayadi's name was recorded to have voted in TPS 04 of the village.

"So, after they [the committee] returned to the polling station, they read out, Your Honors, the names of the sick. After the names of the sick had been read, I responded 'Asmayadi isn't there [at TPS 03].' After the polling station committee checked, it turned out that Asmayadi voted at TPS 04," Nasir stated.
 

Nurul Amalia Ulfa, one of the mandate witnesses of the Petitioners for TPS 01 of Anoe Itam Village, Sukajaya District, stated that there were 10 sick voters at the day of the election. However, the KPPS officers only visited them between 14:00 and 14:43 WIB—outside of the voting window period decreed in KPU Regulation No. 17 of 2024 and the Aceh KIP Decree No. 51 of 2025. "I came along [the KPPS officers to visit the sick voters]," Nurul revealed.

Denial from the Respondent

The Sabang KIP presented Suwardi, the Chairperson of KPPS at TPS 02 in Paya Seunara Village, Suka Makmue District, Sabang City, as a witness. During the evidentiary hearing, Suwardi testified and firmly denied any allegations that the voting had taken place outside the regulated time.

He insisted that his committee also visited 19 sick voters and that the voting didn't run past 14:00 WIB, as supported by the lack of incident or objection form by any of the candidate pairs' witnesses. "All of the phases we conducted went smoothly, Your Honors," said Suwardi who attended remotely.

Another witness of the Respondent, Rizky Yuliarni, concurred. She was the chairperson of the Kuta Barat Village polling committee (PPS). The report she received from all of the KPPS from five polling stations in the village stated that the voting, vote counting, and signing of C-result forms went without any issues. "There were no reports from the witnesses," Rizky stated.

Procedures Not Complied

On the other hand, member of the Sabang election supervisory committee Sunarno explained that there had been an incident of misplaced ballot during the vote count recapitulation of the Aceh gubernatorial election result at TPS 02 in Paya Seunara Village, Suka Makmue District. At the time of counting and matching with the attendance lost, two ballots had been missing.

The ballots were then found inside the drawer of the KPPS Chairperson's desk. A polling station supervisor reported that the KPPS officers had opened the Sabang mayoral election ballot box while looking for the missing ballots.

"It was true [that the ballot box opening had been done outside of the designated time]. At the moment of the mayoral election ballot boxes, according to our polling station supervisor, it indeed did not follow the procedure. In other words, at the moment of the vote count for the gubernatorial election ballots, they [the committee] matched the [attendance] document against the number of used ballots in the box," Sunarno explained.

"During the mayoral [election] vote count, they [the committee] did not count nor match anymore. They took [the ballots] one by one directly from the box, unlawfully opening the box directly. They immediately validate [the ballots] without counting first," Sunarno revealed.

Also read:

Ferdiansyah-Isa Questions Voting and Vote Counting of Sabang Mayoral Election

Sabang KIP: Revote at Six Polling Stations Fails to Meet Requirements

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners for Case No. 47/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 classified the violations into three issues. First, the voting was conducted past the specified time.

Second, the Petitioners argued that the voting and vote counting had not been carried out based on the procedures set in laws and regulations. For instance, at TPS 02 of Paya Seunara Village, the KPPS quickly delivered the announcement, making it difficult for the witnesses to hear clearly. This suggests an intention to favor certain candidate pairs.

Third, the Petitioners stated that some voters were unable to vote. Fadjri explained that sick voters could not exercise their voting rights as their ballots had been pre-marked by KPPS officers at TPS 02 in Paya Seunara Village.

In the petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Sabang City Aceh KIP Decree No. 205 of 2024 on the certification of 2024 Sabang mayor-vice mayor election results dated December 3, 2024; or to annul the Sabang City Aceh KIP Decree No. 205 of 2024 relevant to the votes obtained at TPS 02 of Paya Seunara Village (Suka Makmue District), 02 of Aneuk Laot Village (Sukakarya District), 03 of Balohan Village (Sukajaya District), TPS 03 of West Kuta Village (Sukakarya District), TPS 05 of West Kuta Village, (Sukakarya District), and TPS 01 of Anoe Itam (Suka Jaya District).
 

Author  : Nawir Arsyad Akbar

Editor   : Lulu Anjarsari P.

PR : Tiara Agustina

Translator     : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/Fuad Subhan (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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