JAKARTA, LEGAL LITERACY – The General Elections Commission (KPU) stated that the reduction of votes obtained by the United Development Party (PPP) in the Central Sulawesi Electoral District by 5,958 votes is incorrect. This was conveyed by the KPU as the Respondent in a hearing led by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, accompanied by Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman and Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih for case number 173-01-17-26/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 submitted by the United Development Party (PPP) regarding the filling of prospective members of the DPR RI for the Central Sulawesi Electoral District.

“That the reduction in the Petitioner's votes in the Central Sulawesi Electoral District by 5,958 votes is incorrect and without legal basis,” said Yuni Iswantoro, Legal Counsel for the Respondent at the hearing held in Panel 3 Hearing Room, Tuesday (14/05/2024).

Furthermore, KPU stated that PPP did not mention how the 5,958 votes belonging to PPP were transferred to the Garuda Party, neither the place of the incident (locus) nor the time of the incident (tempus). In addition, it is unclear at which level of recapitulation the alleged vote migration occurred, whether at the polling station, sub-district, district, provincial, or national/central level.

KPU explained that the plenary meeting at the Provincial level of Central Sulawesi was held from 4 to 14 March 2024, which was attended by witnesses from political parties and the Central Sulawesi Provincial Bawaslu. Witnesses from PPP attended the plenary meeting at the Provincial level of Central Sulawesi and signed the Model D form. PROV-DPR Results for the type of general election for membership of the DPR RI.

KPU added that in the recapitulation process at the district/city level and the recapitulation at the provincial level, there were no special events and/or objections from PPP witnesses to the votes obtained by the Garuda Party. In other words, PPP had actually accepted and did not object to the votes obtained by the Garuda Party. Until the central/national level recapitulation plenary session held by the KPU for the Election of DPR Members for the Central Sulawesi Electoral District on March 15, 2024 in Jakarta, there were no special events and/or objections from PPP witnesses to the votes obtained by the Garuda Party. The results of the central/national level recapitulation for the Election of DPR Members for the Central Sulawesi Electoral District are in accordance with D. PROV-DPR Results.

Based on the explanation that has been given, KPU requests the Court to accept and grant all of the Respondent's exceptions in the exception, and to reject all of the Petitioner's requests in the subject matter and to declare correct the Decree of the General Elections Commission Number 360 of 2024.

Meanwhile, in the trial, Bawaslu provided information that based on the Supervisory Result Report on the Recapitulation of Vote Count Results at the Regency/City Level throughout Central Sulawesi Province, there were no Special Incident Notes and/or Witness Objections submitted by Witnesses from the United Development Party (PPP) and/or the Garda Republic Indonesia Party (Garuda Party) regarding the results of the vote count in the DPR Election.

“That based on the Supervisory Result Report on the Recapitulation of Vote Count Results at the Regency/City Level throughout Central Sulawesi Province, there were no Special Incident Notes and/or Witness Objections submitted by Witnesses from the United Development Party (PPP) and/or the Garda Republic Indonesia Party (Garuda Party) regarding the results of the vote count in the DPR Election,” said Nasrun, representative of Bawaslu.

According to Bawaslu, the votes obtained for the United Development Party (PPP) were 28,346 votes, and for the Garuda Party were 6,094 votes, in accordance with what was determined by the Respondent.

As additional information, there are no Related Parties involved in this case.