The Petitioners’ legal counsel attending the ruling hearing for case No. 81/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Berau regent election results dispute, Monday (2/24/2025) in the plenary courtroom. Photo by MKRI/Panji.

---

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) rejected the petition on the 2024 Berau regent election results dispute for Case No. 81/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, filed by Candidate Pair Number 1 Madri Pani-Agus Wahyudi. The Court stated that the Petitioners’ petition was legally groundless in its entirety.

“On the petition’s subject matter, [the Court] rejects the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo delivering the verdict alongside the other eight constitutional justices on Monday, February 24, 2025 in the plenary courtroom.

In its legal consideration, delivered by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, the Court stated that the legal issues questioned by the Petitioner included violations in the transfer or reshuffle of administrative officials, supervisory officials, and school principals within the Berau Regency Government, violations during voting at several polling stations in Berau Regency, and the opening of ballot boxes not in accordance with laws and regulations. According to the Petitioners, Candidate Pair 2 Sri Juniarsih Mas-Gamalis as the Relevant Party could be sanctioned with disqualification as Berau regent-vice regent candidates.

However, the Berau Regency KPU (Elections Commission) as Respondent stated that a violation of Article 71 paragraph (2) of Law No. 10 of 2016 on Regional Elections, if it does not affect the votes for the candidates, does not warrant disqualification. The Petitioners should have filed an objection with the Berau Regency Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) regarding the alleged transfer/reshuffle of officials. Instead, the report was filed by members of the community.

Meanwhile, the Relevant Party testified that the Minister of Home Affairs had approved the appointment and inauguration of said officials and principals. The Court asserted that as Berau incumbent regent, Sri Juniarsih did not violate the provision on reshuffle of officials, which prohibits the reshuffle of officials six months before the certification of candidate pairs until the end of the office term, unless approved by the Minister of Home Affairs.

“Based on the legal considerations and facts stated above, the Court found no convincing evidence of a violation occurring in the 2024 Berau regent-vice regent election in relation to the transfer or reshuffle within the Berau Regency Government. Therefore, the Court views the Petitioners’ argument on the violation of Article 71 paragraph (2) of Law No. 10 of 2016 by Hj. Sri Juniarsih Mas, M.Pd. (the Relevant Party’s regent candidate) legally groundless,” stated Deputy Chief Justice Saldi.

The Petitioners’ argument on violations and frauds during voting at six polling stations have been refuted during a hearing, making it legally unreasonable. The alleged violations include the misuse of voting rights by voters Taselim, Eduardo Dominggus Neves, and Jessica Septrilya Limbas, who were registered in the final voters list (DPT) at TPS (polling station) 009 in Gayam Village, which was not proven as their signatures were not found on the attendance list, indicating they did not exercise their voting rights.

The Court also views the Petitioners’ argument that several ballot boxes were unsealed or had broken seals at four polling stations (TPS 001, TPS 006, and TPS 008 in Gayam Village, and TPS 011 in Gunung Panjang Village, Tanjung Redeb District) was legally groundless. The Respondent stated that all ballot boxes had been sealed using ties according to the logistics handling procedure, but the gap for inserting ballots had not been sealed with a sticker.

After coordination between the district election committee (PPK), district election supervisory committee (Panwascam), the Armed Forces (TNI), the Police, and other local election organizers, the sticker seals were applied. The ballots in the ballot boxes, along with other documents, remained sealed in the ballot envelopes.

At the plenary meeting of the vote recapitulation in Tanjung Redeb District, the ballot boxes from TPS 001, 006, and 008 in Gayam Village showed no differences in the vote acquisition results for the candidate pairs, which remained consistent with the C-result, C-result copy, and D-results district forms. Additionally, the Petitioners’ witnesses did not raise any objections.

The vote difference between the Petitioners and the Relevant Party was 696 votes or 0.53 percent, lower than the specified threshold of 1.5 percent or 1,957 votes out of 130,484 total valid votes.

The ballot boxes from TPS 001, TPS 006, and TPS 008 in Gayam Village and TPS 011 in Gunung Panjang Village, Tanjung Redeb District were presented at the examination hearing on February 13, 2025. The Respondent’s legal counsel Ali Nurdin stated that the contents of the ballot boxes were still intact, all inside the sealed envelopes. If the ballots had been tampered with, the seal should have been torn, but the Respondent stated that the seal stickers remained intact during the plenary meeting for the vote recapitulation.

“That night, because everyone wanted to rest, [the ballot boxes] were re-sealed with the meeting report inside it. There were no problems at the plenary meeting the next day, no changes in votes either,” revealed Ali Nurdin.

Also read:

Ballot Boxes Allegedly Improperly Opened in Berau Regent Election

KPU Berau States Ballot Boxes Are Unsealed but Remain Closed

Courts Highlights Witnesses, Evidence of Ineligible Voters in Berau Election Hearing

In the petitums, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the Berau KPU decree and certify the correct vote acquisition by the Petitioners as follows: Candidate Pair 1 Madri Pani-Agus Wahyudi received 64,894 votes and Candidate Pair 2 received zero votes, or order the Berau KPU to do a revote at all polling stations in all districts by only including Candidate Pair 1 Madri Pani-Agus Wahyudi. Alternatively, they requested the Court to annul the votes at several polling stations in four villages and order a revote at those polling stations.

Author               : Mimi Kartika
Editor                : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR                    : Fauzan Febriyan
Translator         : Ryan Alfian/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.

---