Violation in Bangka Belitung Gubernatorial Election Not Proven

The legal counsels attending the ruling hearing for Case No. 266/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Bangka Belitung Islands gubernatorial election results dispute, Monday (2/24/2025). Photo by MKRI/Panji

JAKARTA (MKRI) — On Monday, February 24, 2025, the Constitutional Court (MK) rejected the petition on the 2024 Bangka Belitung gubernatorial election results dispute filed by Candidate Pair 1 Erzaldi Rosman and Yuri Kemal Fadlullah (Petitioners). The ruling was delivered by Chief Justice Suhartoyo alongside the other eight constitutional justices in the plenary courtroom.

In the Case No. 266/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025, the Bangka Belitung Elections Commission (KPU) served as the Respondent while Candidate Pair 2 Hidayat Arsani–Hellyana became the Relevant Party.

“[The Court] adjudicated, on the petition’s subject matter, rejects the Petitioners’ petition in its entirety,” said Chief Justice Suhartoyo while delivering the verdict.

The Court found that all of the petition's arguments were not reasonable according to law, including the allegation of duplicate final voters' lists (DPT) in 133 polling stations (TPS).

In response, the Court views that the DPT certified by the Respondent has been verified and validated in a tiered manner based on a justifiable reasoning. The Court also believes that the Respondent has done preliminary anticipation by doing data synchronization or removing duplicate data, both at the national and the regency/city levels.

"Thus, the allegation of duplicate voters must be proven by authentic data demonstrating [the duplication] of substantial elements of identities, and not merely similarities of names," said Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh while reading the legal consideration.

The Court also rejected the Petitioners' argument stating the KPPS (polling station working committee) had not checked the voters’ electronic ID cards since they only based it on a witness statement letter.

"The Court is not convinced by the accuracy of the allegation argued by the Petitioners who was solely based on a witness statement letter," Justice Foekh added.

In fact, the witnesses, including those of the Petitioners, had signed the C-result forms, which they should not have done if they wanted to lodge a formal objection. If a violation indeed happened, the witnesses would have filed a C-incident form and/or declined to sign the vote count recapitulation.

Votes Cast by Non-Residents

Another argument rejected by the Court is the allegation of voters casting their votes outside their listed polling stations in 122 TPS in five regencies and city. After the Court examined and compared the screenshots of the online DPT against the additional final voters' list (DPTb) and/or special voters' list (DPK), the Court affirmed that there were names of voters who voted outside their listed polling stations as argued by the Petitioners. However, this does not necessarily translate to a violation or abuse of voting rights.

"The Court instead found a legal fact that even though there were voters who factually voted outside of their original polling stations, they were located in the same domicile, which was the Province of Bangka Belitung Islands," explained Justice Foekh

Ballot Box Opening Complies Procedure

The Petitioners had alleged that several ballot boxes had been opened while voting was still ongoing at TPS 005 of Kejaksaan Village. The Court too rejected the argument since all of the witnesses, including the Petitioners', signed the recapitulation minute at the polling station.

The alleged opening had been recorded in the C-incident form and was deemed compliant to the applicable regulations by the Court.

"Based on the facts and evidence disclosed at the hearing, the Court is convinced that the incident is not proven as an election violation potentially impacting the election result," stated Justice Foekh.

Bangka Regency Bawaslu Did Not Issue Revote Recommendation

Moreover, the Petitioners alleged that the Bangka Regency KPU did not follow up on the recommendation of the Bangka Regency Bawaslu (Election Supervisory Body). Similarly, the Court rejected the argument since the recommendation did not substantially recommend a revote. "Instead, [the Bawaslu] requested the Bangka Regency KPU to review a number of polling stations which potentially merit the revote according to the applicable regulations," Justice Foekh elaborated.

In response, the Court examined the supervisory reports from the 31 polling stations disputed by the Petitioners. However, it did not find any incident warranting a revote.

The substance of the Bangka Regency Bawaslu Chairman Statement Letter No. 385/PM.OO.02/K.BB-01/12/2024 did not recommend the Bangka Regency KPU to conduct a revote, but merely a thorough review.

News

Violation in Bangka Belitung Gubernatorial Election Not Proven