Istiarta Fajar Utama representing Bangka Regency KPU at the second hearing for the 2024 Bangka regent election results dispute for case No. 332/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025, Tuesday (9/23/2025). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The second hearing for case No. 332/PHPU.BUP-XXIII/2025 over the results of the 2024 Bangka regent election continued in the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday, September 23, 2025 in the plenary courtroom. Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (chair), Anwar Usman, and Enny Nurbaningsih heard the KPU (General Elections Commission) as Respondent, the Relevant Party, and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body).

Istiarta Fajar Utama, representing the Bangka Regency Elections Commission (KPU) as the Respondent, stated that the Petitioners’ arguments regarding alleged disputes over vote results were insignificant and had no impact on the determination of the elected candidates. He argued that allegations of vote buying were found in only 109 out of 459 polling stations, with a ratio of one witness to an average of 320 votes per polling station. “This ratio is very small and far from meeting the criteria of structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations, and therefore cannot have altered the election results,” he explained.

Fajar argued that the 113 statements and video recordings submitted by the Petitioners as evidence could not serve as a legal basis. The testimonies were not the result of an arrest operation, lacked supporting material evidence. Moreover, he doubted the authenticity of the videos, claiming that they appeared to have been staged or edited.

In addition, Fajar denied any accreditation or registration for the auditor team of Asminati & Associate by the KPU, which the Petitioners had used as a reference. He believes the team did not have official authority to monitor the 2025 Bangka regent election. The letter of appointment for the legal auditors, he said, did not automatically confer legitimacy to investigate alleged vote-buying practices.

Furthermore, he emphasized, the alleged vote buying had never been reported or processed as an election crime by the competent authorities. For this reason, Fajar considered the Petitioners’ arguments irrelevant to be brought before the Constitutional Court.

At the same hearing, candidate pair number 1 Fery Insani–Syahbudin, represented by M. Jaka Zia Utama, also refuted the Petitioners’ arguments. He stated that the auditor used as the basis of the petition lacked competence to assess TSM violations.

“The auditor team of Asminati & Associate has neither the competence nor the authority to investigate and handle structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations in the 2025 Bangka regent and vice regent election. Therefore, their findings should be disregarded. In fact, all of the Petitioners’ witnesses have signed the C-result-copy-KWK-regent forms at 290 polling stations alleged by the Petitioners,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Bawaslu members and representative Andi Budi Yulianto emphasized that there had never been an official report regarding alleged vote buying on election day. “The reports submitted to Bawaslu did not meet formal requirements, Your Honors,” he stated.

Also read: Andi Kusuma-Budiyono Claim Maladministration in Bangka Regent Election

Regent-vice regent candidate pair number 4 Andi Kusuma and Budiyono filed the petition to the Court. alleged that massive money politics (vote buying) and maladministration by the other candidate pairs had occurred, including questioning the diploma of regent candidate number 5 Rato Rusdiyanto.

In their petitums, the Petitioners requested the Court to annul the Bangka KPU’s decision on the results of the 2025 Bangka regional election. They also sought the disqualification of candidate pairs number 1 and 5 and for the Court to declare them as the duly elected regent and vice regent of Bangka for 2025.

Author         : Utami Argawati
Editor          : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR               : Tiara Agustina
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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