Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo testifying as a witness for the Petitioners at an evidentiary hearing for Case No. 272/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Mimika regent election results dispute, Tuesday (2/11/2025). Photo by MKRI/Teguh.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held an evidentiary hearing for Case No. 272/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Mimika regent election results dispute on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Experts and witnesses were convened by the parties to testify about or against the Petitioners’ argument, including the issue of the voter turnout surpassing 100 percent at several polling stations (TPS) in several districts of the regency.

The Petitioners presented Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo as a witness. The former Bawaslu (Election Supervisory Body) chairperson in 2008-2012, argued that a voter turnout of 100 or more percent is impossible in an election. He added that the use of reserve ballots amounting to 2.5% of the number of voters in the final voters list (DPT) must be administered in accordance with the data on defective ballots, incorrectly-marked ballots, and relocated voters at the respective polling stations.

“If those data do not match, [the use of] 2.5% reserve ballots should be suspected as a violation of the right to vote and the principle of ‘one person, one vote, one value’. Simply put, some voters exercised their right to vote more than once so that all of the reserve ballots were used or another possibility is that ineligible voters voted at those polling stations,” said Bambang before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Ridwan Mansyur and Arsul Sani on panel 2.

Bambang continued that a 100-percent turnout demonstrates low accountability and transparency in the election due to the lack of supporting data and documentation. Low attendance was recorded proportionately at the polling stations in which the turnouts were near, precisely, or over 100%.

“If the low voter turnout in the regional election was indicated almost evenly in all of the operation of the regional election, then the Court must carefully examine the 100-percent voter turnout: whether it was purely an increase in turnout or whether it indicates a blatant manipulation of the voters list,” Bambang explained in the courtroom.

The Relevant Party presented I Gusti Putu Artha, a Central KPU (General Elections Commission) member of the in 2007-2012, as an expert. Putu argued that the maximization of ballot use did not only benefit the Relevant Party, but also the Petitioners and another candidate pair. Moreover, there were no incident or objection forms filed to raise objection to the excessive ballot use at the district-level vote count recapitulation.

“The maximum use of ballots distributed the votes to all of the candidates and the Petitioners or another candidate pair even won in certain districts. It did not always benefit the Relevant Party,” Putu reported.

The Mimika Regency KPU as the Respondent presented several district election committee (PPD) members at the hearing. Essentially, the Respondent insisted on having implemented the one-man-one-vote system and denied the allegation of noken* system. They stated that the voters had arrived in droves at the polling stations since morning on the election day.

“[In] the election taking place in Kwamki Narama District, at exactly 6 am, the people have flocked their respective polling stations in large numbers to come with their ID cards and C-notice forms,” said Franklin Delano Rumbiak, a member of the Kwamki Narama PPD.

Rumbiak noted that mandate witnesses from each of the candidate pairs and the village-level and district-level election supervisory committees were also present at the polling stations. All of the witnesses signed the minutes and C-result forms and did not file any incident or objection forms. Moreover, Bawaslu did not issue any recommendation on indication of violations at all 24 polling stations in the district.

Also read:

Voter Turnout Over 100 Percent in Mimika Regency Election

Mimika Regency Election Conducted Without Noken Voting System

At the preliminary hearing, Candidate Pair 02 Maximus Tipagau-Peggi Patricia Pattipi (Petitioners) alleged irregularities in voter participation during the 2024 Mimika Regency election. They claimed that 12 districts reported a voter turnout of 100%, while another six districts recorded participation rates exceeding 100% based on the final voter lists (DPT). According to the Petitioners, the total DPT in Mimika Regency was 224,514 votes, with voter participation reaching 223,517 voters, equivalent to 99.56%.

The Petitioners argued that voter participation reaching 100% or even more had occurred in Agimuga District, East Mimika District, West Mimika District, Jita District, Jila District, Far East Mimika District, Tembaga Pura District, Far West Mimika District, Kwamki Narama District, Alama District, Amar District, Hoya District, Central Mimika District, Iwaka District, Central West Mimika District, New Mimika District, Kuala Kencana District, and Wania District. The Petitioners believe that there was no attendance list of voters including additional voters or voters who had moved so voters in all TPS in Mimika could not be verified and validated as eligible voters.

The Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Mimika Regency KPU Decree No. 61 of 2024 concerning the certification of vote counting recapitulation of the 2024 Mimika Regency election dated December 9, 2024; to disqualify Candidate Pair 01 Johannes Rettob-Emanuel Kemong as candidates; to declare the annulment of the Mimika Regency KPU Decree No. 38 of 2024 concerning the certification of the candidate pairs in the 2024 Mimika Regency election; to order the Mimika Regency KPU to do a revote at all polling stations in Mimika Regency with only Candidate Pair 02 Maximus Tipagau-Peggi Patricia Pattipi and Candidate Pair 03 Alexander Omaleng-Yusuf Rombe participating.

Also read:

Petition for Case No. 272/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025

Response by the Respondent

Statement by the Relevant Party

Statement by Bawaslu

(*) The noken voting system is carried out by communities in Papua, either through public agreement on vote allocation or through the delegation of votes to a tribal leader.

Author              : Mimi Kartika
Editor                : N. Rosi
PR                    : Fauzan F.
Translator         : M. Hafidh Al Mukmin/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL) (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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