The Petitioners’ legal counsel (right) at the ruling hearing for Case No. 272/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the Mimika regent election results dispute, Monday (2/24) in the plenary courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) – The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled the petition for case No. 272/PHPU.BUP-XXIII2025 on the 2024 Mimika regent election results dispute, filed by Candidate Pair 2 Maximus Tipagau-Peggi Patricia Pattipi, inadmissible. The Court declared the Petitioners’ arguments legally unreasonable in their entirety, including on the alleged violation of the one-man-one-vote system or the alleged application of the noken* system in several districts in Mimika Regency.

“On the petition’s subject matter, [the Court] declares the Petitioners’ petition inadmissible,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo at the ruling hearing on Monday, February 24, 2025.

In its legal consideration, delivered by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, the Court explained that following the KPU (General Elections Commission) Decree No. 1774 of 2024 on the technical guidelines for the regional election voting and vote counting, the noken system is not applicable in Mimika Regency. The Petitioners alleged that they had found four invalid ballots and numerous unused ballots during the recapitulation process in several districts as follows: Agimuga, West Mimika, Far West Mimika, Alama, Amar, Hoya, Central Mimika, and Iwaka.

Within the limits of reasonable reasoning, if the noken system had been implemented, no invalid ballots would have been declared. Moreover, the regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) did not find any evidence of violations related to the use of the noken system there.

“Based on the above facts and legal consideration, the Petitioners’ petition on the allegation of the implementation of the noken system in several districts in Mimika Regency is legally unreasonable,” Deputy Chief Justice asserted.

Misuse of Remaining Ballots

Additionally, the Petitioners alleged that the unused ballots had been distributed by the Tembagapura district election committee (PPD) to all candidate pairs. Deputy Chief Justice Saldi clarified that it was true that 1,541 unused ballots at 36 polling stations in Tembagapura District had been distributed, as reported in the Tembagapura district supervisory committee (Panwas) supervision results dated December 4, 2024.

Following the report, on the same day, the Tembagapura district supervisory committee issued a recommendation to annul those ballots. They followed it up by annulling the unused ballots distributed to the candidate pairs, specifically 286 votes for Candidate Pair 1, 258 for Candidate Pair 2, and 997 for Candidate Pair 3. This annulment was recorded in the D-result copy form, which was signed by the chair and members of the Tembagapura district election committee, which was then approved by three candidate pairs’ witnesses and observed by the Tembagapura district supervisory committee.

“Following the above facts and legal consideration, the Petitioners’ argument on the distribution of unused ballots in Tembagapura District is not justified. Therefore, the Petitioners’ a quo petition is legally unreasonable,” said Deputy Chief Justice Saldi.

Ineligible Voters

The Court considered the Petitioners’ petition regarding ineligible voters, marked reserve ballots, and unverified voters due to the voter attendance list were not aligned with the final voter list (DPT), additional final voter list (DPTb), and transfer voters. However, Mimika Bawaslu, in this case the supervisory committees of Wania District and New Mimika District,  issued a recommendation for a revote.

However, the Mimika Regency KPU as Respondent only conducted a revote at several polling stations, excluding seven polling stations as the recommendation did not follow laws and regulations. Thus, the Court believed that the Mimika Regency Bawaslu and KPU had exercised their respective duties as election organizers.

Even if the Respondent had carried out a revote at seven other polling stations, the potential votes for the candidate pairs other than the Relevant Party (Candidate Pair 1 Johannes Rettob-Emanuel Kemong), including Candidate Pair 2 and Candidate Pair 3, would not have significantly impacted the Relevant Party’s total votes. In the worst-case scenario, even if all voters listed in the final voters list for the seven polling stations, along with the 2.5 percent reserve ballots, were to cast their votes solely for Candidate Pairs 2 and 3, it unlikely would change the Relevant Party’s position as the most-voted candidate pair.

Also read:

Voter Turnout Over 100 Percent in Mimika Regency Election

Mimika Regency Election Conducted Without Noken Voting System

Voter Turnout Exceeding 100 Percent in Mimika Regency Explained

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.

(*) 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.

Also read:

Petition for Case No. 272/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025
Response by the Respondent
Statement by Bawaslu
Statement by the Relevant Party

Author              : Mimi Kartika
Editor               : N. Rosi
PR                    : Andhini S.F./Tiara A/Fauzan F.
Translator         : Syifa Amelia/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

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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