Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (center) with Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih (left) and Ridwan Mansyur (right) at the preliminary hearing for case No. 328/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 on the 2024 Papua governor election results dispute, Tuesday (9/2/2025). Photo by MKRI/Agung.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — Governor-vice governor candidates number 1 Benhur Tomi Mano-Constant Karma have filed a petition against the results of the 2024 Papua gubernatorial election revote following the Constitutional Court’s (MK) Decision No. 304/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025. They argued that they had a margin of 0.8 percent or 4,134 with candidates number 2 Matius Fakhiri-Aryoko Alberto Ferdinand Rumaropen (Relevant Party) due to voter turnouts exceeding 100 percent at 62 polling stations (TPS).

“As many as 62 TPS had voter turnouts exceeding 100 percent,” said legal counsel Hardian Tuasamu, who appeared before the panel virtually at the preliminary hearing for case No. 328/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025 on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.

The Papua Provincial Elections Commission (KPU) as Respondent had certified the following results for the revote: candidates 1 with 255,683 votes and candidates 2 with 259,817. The 0.8 percent margin is well below the threshold to file a petition against the results of a gubernatorial election, which was set at 2 percent or 10,310 votes out of the total valid votes.

The Petitioners claimed that they should have earned 246,418 votes, exceeding the 245,528 votes for the Relevant Party by a small margin. They alleged that votes for the Relevant Party had been inflated due to voter turnouts exceeding 100 percent at 62 polling stations: 2 in Jayapura Regency, 7 in Yapen Islands Regency, 2 in Biak Regency, 3 in Sarmi Regency, 2 in Supiori Regency, 25 in Keerom Regency, 1 in Waropen Regency, and 20 in Jayapura City.

The Petitioners argued that such number of turnouts defies the Constitutional Court Decision No. 304/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025, in whose legal considerations and verdict the Court declared the final voters list (DPT) used for the revote shall be that used for the simultaneous regional election on November 27, 2024. Therefore, the addition of voters at the polls during the revote on August 6, 2025 was illegal.

The Petitioners revealed that they had filed an objection in tiers at the plenary sessions for the recapitulations at the district, regency, and provincial levels. The Papua Provincial Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) had also offered their recommendations at the plenary session for the recapitulation at the provincial level for all regencies and cities, but the Respondent had overlooked the Petitioners’ objection and Bawaslu’s recommendations.

The Petitioners alleged that the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadia, who is also the chairperson of the central executive board (DPP) of Golkar (Party of Functional Groups), had been biased, as evidenced by his frequent official visits to Papua, which the Petitioners suspected were a move to support the Relevant Party’s victory. The Petitioners also alleged that interim Papua governor Agus Fatoni had committed political intervention to show indirect support to the Relevant Party at Hikmah Al Bunayyah Foundation in Heram District of Jayapura City.

The Petitioners also claimed that Keerom regent Piter Gusbager, who is also the regency’s Golkar executive board chairman, had had abused his authority by mobilizing village heads to secure the Relevant Party’s victory. They also alleged that certain members of the police force had acted in a biased manner by intimidating several members of KPPS (polling station working committees), district election committees (PPD), district supervisory committees (pandis), as well as officials of regency/city KPU and Bawaslu, in order to manipulate the results of C-Result forms at the polling station level and D-KWK Result forms at the district level so as to secure victory for candidates number 2 Fakhiri-Aryoko in various regencies and cities throughout Papua.

Accordingly, in their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Decree of the Papua Provincial KPU No. 640 of 2025 on the certification of the results of the 2024 Papua gubernatorial election following the Constitutional Court’s ruling, which was issued and announced on August 20, 2025 at 22:40 WIT, insofar as it concerns the vote tallies in 92 polling stations across several regencies and cities in Papua Province, and to establish the correct results of the Papua gubernatorial election as claimed by the Petitioners.

The case was heard by the second panel consisting of Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (chair) and Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih and Ridwan Mansyur. The following online session is scheduled for Thursday, September 4 at 08:00 WIB to hear the Respondent’s response and testimonies by Bawaslu and the Relevant Party.

Author         : Mimi Kartika
Editor          : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR              : Andhini S.F.
Translator    : 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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