Khairul Fahmi testifying as an expert for the Relevant Party for case No. 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 West Pasaman regent election results dispute, Tuesday (2/11/2025). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — On Tuesday, February 11, 2025, the Constitutional Court (MK) held an evidentiary hearing for case No. 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 West Pasaman regent election results dispute. This evidentiary hearing examined witnesses and experts. Chief Justice Suhartoyo presided over the hearing alongside Constitutional Justices Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh and M. Guntur Hamzah on panel 1.

The West Pasaman Regency KPU (Elections Commission) is the Respondent, while regent-vice regent Candidate Pair 1 Yulianto and M. Ihpan are the Relevant Party. Both the Respondent and the Relevant Party presented three witnesses and one expert each at the hearing, similar to the Petitioners.

The hearing focused on the Petitioners’ argument regarding the certification of the voters list. The witness for the Petitioners, Charles Simabura, emphasized the significance of this certification for the citizens’ voting rights.

Regarding voter registration, Charles cited Article 10 paragraph (2) of KPU Regulation No. 7 of 2024. This regulation mandates the KPU as the election organizer to avoid merging different villages when arranging polling stations, to ensure easy access to polling stations, to keep family members assigned to the same polling stations, and to consider local geography when preparing the voters list.

“If the KPU fails to meet any provisions or conditions in preparing the voters list, it will greatly impact voters’ accessibility to polling stations,” he explained.

The Respondent’s expert Otong Rosadi explained that the West Pasaman KPU had conducted the 2024 West Pasaman regent election following the applicable regulations, including the preparation of voters list.

“So, voters can exercise their voting rights according to law, and no serious violations to the principle of fair and just election were found,” he asserted.

Far Polling Stations

All Petitioners’ witnesses testified that their polling stations were far from their residences, according to the final voters list (DPT). Two of the three witnesses were polling station working committee (KPPS) members, while one was a voter. The two KPPS members testified that many C-notification letters (voting invitations) had not been delivered due to the 30-m distance from their work areas.

For instance, at TPS (polling station) 7 in South Anam Koto, KPPS member Arimal Ayandi noted that 135 out of 411 voters had not received the C-notification letters. “It was because of unidentified [addresses] and the far distance from the polling stations, approximately 30 kilometres,” Arimal explained.

Meanwhile, 56 voters received the C-notification letters, as they were within 7 kilometers of the KPPS 7 South Anam Koto’s work area. However, only 5 of these voters cast their votes at TPS 7 of South Koto Anam.

“Do you know what the reason was?” inquired Chief Justice Suhartoyo.

“It was because of the far distance,” Arimal replied.

Similarly, Donizet, chairman of KPPS 16 of Cubadak Halmet, Kinali District, revealed that 148 out of 474 voters had not received the C-notification letters. He noted that the updated voters data submitted to the Kinali district election committee (PPK) showed only 306 voters at TPS 16.

The C-notification letters were distributed to only 259 voters, because of the far distance from the KPPS 16’s work area, with some voters in different villages.

“A hamlet named Panco is located in a different village according to the final voters list. I was [stationed] in Cubadak, which was about 7 to 10 kilometers away,” explained Donizet.

A voter testifying at the hearing, Jamaner, stated that he was registered at a polling station hundreds of kilometers from his residence based on the final voters list. This was his first time experiencing the issue in a regional head election. In the 2024 legislative election, he was registered at TPS 7 in Bandua Balai of Kinali District, only 100 meters from his home. He realized this when he visited the polling station near his residence.

“When I checked, [I] was registered at TPS 04 in Ujung Gading, which is 105 kilometers from my home, Your Honors. This was checked by a Bendo Balai KPPS member based on the online final voters list,” Jamaner explained.

PPK’s Explanation on Voters Invitation Distribution

In contrast, the Respondents’ witnesses asserted that over 80 percent of the total voters had received the C-distribution letter successfully.

The Sungai Aur District PPK chairman Fabianto stated that the distribution of C-notification or voting invitations had covered 59 polling stations. “We distributed 86 percent of the C-notification letters throughout the district,” he stated.

Pasaman District PPK member Hesti Sukasih stated that out of 54,872 voters, only 7,352 (13 percent) had not received the C-notification letters.

Reasons for undelivered C-notification letters included deceased voters, moved voters, relocated voters, unknown addresses, change of status, and voters being elsewhere. “We delivered all C-notification letters [based on the KPPS] work areas of each polling station,” Hesti explained.

Kinali District PPK member Septrijar Tasfi also confirmed the high percentage of C-notification letter distribution. However, the Petitioners argued that the Kinali PPK had not distributed the letters for 24 polling stations.

However, Septrijar stated that 44,038 out of 50,810 voters had successfully received the C-notification letters in the Kinali District PPK’s work area. “In percentage, that is around 87 percent,” Septrijar explained.

Septrijar also confirmed that the community did not object to the mapping of polling stations, the voters list, the temporary voters list, final voters list, and the certification of voters list. Despite this, the West Pasaman Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) issued a recommendation for Kinali District. “We also have followed that up,” explained Septrijar.

The witness of the Relevant Party stated that the Petitioners’ objection had only been raised during the vote counting recapitulation at the district and regency levels. For instance, in Kinali District, the Petitioners’ mandated witness refused to sign the vote results recapitulation and requested that the C-special incident forms from some polling stations be disclosed.

“The request from the witness of Candidate Pair 2 to disclose the C-incident at several polling stations was conducted, and no such incidents were reported,” explained Arsil Nur Huda as the Relevant Party’s mandated witness.

At the district level, the Petitioners’ mandated witness also objected to the vote recapitulation at the regency level, and declined to sign, citing unclear reasons. Additionally, at the district level, only two out of four Petitioners’ witnesses were willing to sign.

“[We] do not know [the reason why they declined to sign]. Only two of them signed,” stated Erik Afriyuda, the Relevant Party’s mandated witness.

No Reports Received

The West Pasaman Bawaslu provided a testimony that they had not received any reports and objections on the voters list in the 2024 West Pasaman regent election. They also did not issue any objection during the stage of this regent election.

“[We] did not receive any objections and reports,” said Wanhar, the West Pasaman Bawaslu chairman.

The testimony from the West Pasaman Bawaslu concluded the hearing, which will be followed by the ruling hearing on February 24, 2025. The parties will be notified by the Court to attend the subsequent hearing.

Also read:

Voters in West Pasaman Had to Cross Islands to Vote

West Pasaman KPU Highlights Voter List

At the previous hearing on Friday, January 10, 2025, the Petitioners read out several arguments, including the difficulties experienced by the voters in the 2024 West Pasaman regent election. According to the Petitioners, some voters had to exercise their voting rights at different polling stations, some voters even had to travel long distances of up to 20 kilometers crossing the island to cast their vote.

The Petitioners said that this had led to low voter turnout. Thus, they filed a petition requesting that the Court cancel the West Pasaman KPU decree regarding the certification of the 2024 West Pasaman regent election results. They also requested that the Court to order the KPU to conduct a revote.

Also read:

Petition for Case No. 43/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025

Respondent’s Response

Bawaslu’s Statement

Relevant Party’s Statement

 

Author               : Ashri Fadilla
Editor                : N. Rosi
PR                    : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator         : Ryan Alfian/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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