Court Orders Revote at Two Polling Stations in North Barito

The Petitioners' legal counsels at the ruling hearing for Case No. 28/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 North Barito regent election results dispute, Monday (2/24/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Court partially grants Petition Case No. 28/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 North Barito regent election results dispute on Monday, February 24, 2025. This ruling for the petition was delivered by Chief Justice Suhartoyo alongside the other eight constitutional justices.

The petition was filed by Regent Candidate Pair 2 Akhmad Gunadi Nadalsyah and Sastra Jaya. The North Barito Elections Commission (KPU) and Regent Candidate Pair 1 Gogo Purman Jaya–Hendro Nakalelo were respectively the Respondent and the Relevant Party of the case.

"[The Court] adjudicated, on the petition's subject matter: to grant the Petitioners' petition in part" said Chief Justice Suhartoyo while delivering the verdict.

In its verdict, the Court instructed the Respondent to conduct a revote in two polling stations, namely Polling Station 01 of Melayu Village in Central Teweh District and Polling Station 04 of Malawaken Village in Teweh Baru District. The revote must be conducted no later than 30 days from the date the ruling was pronounced. Furthermore, the Court ordered that the revote be carried out using the same final, relocated, and additional voters' list as used on the previous election day, November 27, 2024.

The revote results must then be incorporated with the vote results not annulled by the Court. "[The Court orders] to display [the results] altogether as an announcement of the revote results without needing to report to the Court," Chief Justice Suhartoyo specified.

Through the Court's partial grant of the petition and its order for a revote, North Barito KPU Decree No. 821 of 2024 on the certification of regent election results was overruled insofar as it pertains to the vote acquisitions at Polling Station 01 of Melayu Village and Polling Station 04 of Malawaken Village.

The Court delivered the ruling due to the proven instance of an individual who voted multiple times and the dismissal of the revote recommendation from the North Barito Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) in the disputed polling stations.

The Court noted the discrepancy between the total number of valid and invalid votes and the number of voters who attended the polling station 01 of Melayu Village. It also questioned the North Barito KPU's decision to register the unused ballots as invalid votes during the finalization stage on Sirekap (vote recapitulation information system).

"The Court views that the discrepancy between the ballots used and the number of voters in polling station 01 of Melayu Village, both before and after recount of ballots at the Central Teweh District vote count recapitulation, which was acknowledged by the Teweh Tengah district election committee (PPK) at a hearing, constitutes a legal fact that there is no doubt that there had been more than one voter who voted more than once," said Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P Foekh while reading the legal consideration.

Meanwhile, in the case of polling station 04 of Malawaken Village, the Court affirms that there were voters using the C-notice-KWK forms without showing their ID cards, thus violating Article 19 of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Regulation No. 17 of 2024.

The article emphasizes the use of ID cards or resident biodata to identify voters when exercising their right to vote at polling stations. "The Court believes that the requirements on the documents demonstrating a voter's identity, technically, will aid the election organizers in the election verification and administration at the polling stations," Justice Foekh added.

Also read:

North Barito Regency Candidates Allege Voting Issues

North Barito KPU Denies Voter Disenfranchisement

Controversy over Follow-Up on North Barito Bawaslu’s Recommendation

At the preliminary hearing on Monday, January 13, 2025, the Petitioners argued numerous violations in the 2024 North Barito Regency election results dispute, including several voters not showing their ID cards losing their voting rights, and the polling station being closed before its exact time. Another issue raised by the Petitioners was the unlawful double voting, which was caused by leftover ballot papers being distributed to the witnesses at polling station 01 of Karendan Village, Lahei District.

Therefore, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the North Barito KPU decree on the certification of the 2024 regent election results. Additionally, they requested the Court to order the KPU to conduct a revote in four locations: Polling Station 04 of Malawaken Village in Teweh Baru District, Polling Station 01 of Karendan Village in Lahei District, and Polling Stations 01 and 12 of Melayu Village in Central Teweh

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Court Orders Revote at Two Polling Stations in North Barito