Syarifah Hayanan (right), the Principal Petitioner, delivers her testimony during the preliminary hearing of Case Number 318/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 concerning the 2024 Banjarbaru City Mayor Election Results Dispute, held on Thursday (15/5/2025) in Panel Courtroom 3 of the Constitutional Court. Photo by MKRI/Bayu
JAKARTA, MKRI – Two petitions concerning disputes over the results of the re-vote for the 2024 Mayor and Deputy Mayor Election of Banjarbaru City have been officially submitted to the Constitutional Court (MKRI). The cases were registered under Numbers 318/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 and 319/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025.
Case Number 318/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 was filed by Syarifah Hayan, representing election observers from the Indonesian Reform Monitoring Institute (LPRI), while Case Number 319/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025 was filed by Udiansyah, a resident and voter at Polling Station 007 in Sungai Besar Village, South Banjarbaru District. Both Petitioners raised concerns regarding the revote process, particularly the absence of an "empty column" option on the ballot, despite the fact that only one candidate pair contested the Banjarbaru mayoral election.
In the preliminary hearing held on Thursday (15/5/2025), presided over by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, Syarifah stated that she experienced intimidation and pressure following the submission of her petition to the Court. She claimed that the license of the LPRI, the organization she represents, had been revoked as a monitoring institution, and that she had even been named a suspect by law enforcement authorities.
"We don’t understand. Prior to the hearing, the General Elections Commission (KPU), Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu) not only revoked our observer accreditation but also initiated legal proceedings against us. I believe this is part of an attempt to obstruct the legal process we are pursuing," Syarifah stated before the panel of justices.
She further revealed that there had been pressure from various parties urging her to withdraw the petition. However, she firmly asserted her commitment to continue the legal fight. "God willing, we will not back down. Once we step forward, we will never give up in fighting against injustice," she affirmed.
Meanwhile, Muhamad Pazri, the legal counsel for the Petitioners, argued that the revote was marred by structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations. He cited instances of money politics, the non-neutrality of state apparatus, and intimidation against voters and election observers.
“In the Banjarbaru revote, we witnessed what I call DUIToktasi — democracy hijacked through money politics and intimidation,” said Pazri. He further alleged that Ghimoyo, the former CEO of Jhonlin Group who now serves as the President Director of a State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN) and is known as the President of the Dozer Volunteers, was among the figures involved in the violations.
According to Pazri, the sole candidate pair, Erna Lisa Halaby and Wartono, was backed by 13 political parties and garnered 36,135 valid votes, or 31.5 percent of the total. Meanwhile, invalid votes reached 78,736 or 68.5 percent. He described the petition as a form of “constitutional jihad” aimed at upholding the principles of free and fair elections.
Denny Indrayana, another legal counsel for the Petitioner, asserted that money politics had taken place in nearly all sub-districts. He highlighted a statement allegedly made by Ghimoyo — “from 75,000 we flush” — which was interpreted as an attempt to buy votes.
Denny also condemned the intimidation faced by the Petitioners, including summons issued by Bawaslu and the Banjarbaru Police, as well as the revocation of accreditation for election monitoring institutions.
In their petition, the Petitioners also pointed to several technical irregularities during the election process. These included the absence of technical guidance at polling stations on how to vote in an election involving a single candidate versus an empty column, discrepancies in the Permanent Voters List (DPT) between the November 27, 2024 regional election and the April 19, 2025 revote, inadequate voter outreach and socialization, as well as the uneven distribution of voting invitations.
In their petition, the Petitioners requested that the Court annul the Decree of the South Kalimantan KPU Number 69 of 2025 concerning the Determination of the revote results for the Banjarbaru Mayoral Election. Additionally, they requested the Court to declare the revote results according to the Petitioners’ version, which includes disqualifying the candidate pair Erna Lisa Halaby and Wartono, and recognizing the empty column with 51,415 votes. Furthermore, the Petitioners urged the Court to order the KPU RI to take over the management of the revote re-run for the Banjarbaru Mayoral Election scheduled for August 27, 2025, by repeating all election stages in accordance with KPU Regulation Number 19 of 2024.
Read also:
Banjarbaru Mayoral Election Violates Constitution, Court Orders Revote with Empty Column
For your information, on Monday (24/2/2025), the Constitutional Court partially granted the petition filed by Muhamad Arifin, Coordinator of the Nusantara Vision Study Institute, regarding the Banjarbaru City Mayoral Election Dispute Case (PHPU Walkot) with Case Number 05/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025. The Court ordered the Banjarbaru City General Election Commission (KPU) to conduct a revote, including an empty column option on the ballot.
In its legal considerations, the Court stated that the Banjarbaru City mayoral election did not meet the constitutional requirements of a democratic election. The election conducted in Banjarbaru was deemed undemocratic, as the regional head was not elected in accordance with the Constitution. This clearly contradicts Article 18 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, which mandates that “Governors, Regents, and Mayors as heads of provincial, regency, and city governments shall be democratically elected.” (*)
Author :Utami Argawati
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Tiara Agustina
Translator : Fuad Subhan
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.
Thursday, May 15, 2025 | 11:27 WIB 224