Nine Election Disputes Filed with MK

Nine disputes challenging the results of the 2018 regional elections have been filed with the Constitutional Court (MK) to Saturday (7/7/2018). Only two of these nine disputes fulfill Article 158 in Law No. 10/2016 on the regional elections.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Arief Budiman, accompanied by commissioner Ilham Saputra (left) and Evi Novida Ginting (right), holds a press conference at the KPU office in Jakarta on Sunday (8/7/2018) to provide an update on the determination of the vote count results of the 2018 simultaneous regional elections.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Nine disputes challenging the results of the 2018 regional elections have been filed with the Constitutional Court (MK) to Saturday (7/7/2018). The disputes concern the elections in five cities, Cirebon, Madiun, Gorontalo, Parepare and Tegal, as well three regencies, Bangkalan (two disputes), Biak Numfor and North Bolaang Mongondow.

Only two of these nine disputes fulfill Article 158 in Law No. 10/2016 on the regional elections, which stipulates that only plaintiffs with a maximum 2 percent margin of loss may file election disputes. The two disputes that fulfill this stipulation came from Cirebon and Tegal.

Nevertheless, Constitutional Court chief justice Anwar Usman said that all disputes filed with the court would go through the process of petition, early review, dispute revision and examination of relevant parties.

MK spokesperson Fajar Laksono said that the court would still examine disputes that did not fulfill the 2 percent loss margin requirement. “We will not immediately reject the disputes, as the MK will also examine the substance of the disputes,” said Fajar.

This is a shift from the court’s previous stance. In the 2015 regional elections, the MK was stricter in applying Article 158, resulting in the rejection of all disputes that were filed by plaintiffs with more than a 2 percent margin of loss.

In the 2017 elections, the MK eased its interpretation of the article and processed several disputes from plaintiffs with more than a 2 percent margin of loss.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU) Arief Budiman (right) and KPU Commissioner Ilham Saputra show data of the latest results of the vote count determination for the 2018 simultaneous regional elections at a press conference at the KPU office in Jakarta on Sunday (8/7/2018).

The court issued rulings on the elections in the Papua regencies of Intan Jaya, Yapen and Puncak Jaya, despite the respective plaintiff’s relatively wide margin of loss.

Judiciary watchdog Kode Inisiatif chair Veri Juanidi said that filing regional election disputes with the MK should not be based exclusively on the margin of votes.

“The MK serves to prevent conflicts in enforcing the Election Law. Election disputes must not lead to regional conflicts and should be resolved at the court,” he said.

Recap for 111 regions

Of the 171 regions that held an election on June 27, the General Elections Commission (KPK) has received vote recapitulations from 111 regions. Candidates have three days to submit disputes challenging the results with the MK.

“If there are any objections, declaring the election victors will be postponed until after the MK makes a ruling. If no dispute is filed three days after [the KPU receives] the recapitulation, then the KPU will declare the election winners,” KPU head Arief Budiman said in Jakarta on Sunday (8/7/2018).

Among the regions that have completed its final vote count is Makassar municipality, one of 16 regions that held election with sole candidates “running against” blank-box candidates. In Makassar, the blank box gained 300,795 votes (53.23 percent) against Munafri Arifuddin-Andi Rahmatika Dewi’s 264,245 votes (46.77 percent).

KOMPAS/MOHAMMAD FINAL DAENG

Munafri Arifuddin (left) and Andi Rachmatika Dewi

As a result, Makassar will hold a repeat election in 2020 during the next phase of the nationwide simultaneous regional elections. The Munafri-Dewi pair will not be declared the winner of the election and an acting mayor will head Makassar until 2020. “The Home Ministry will decide [who will be the acting mayor], in line with regulations,” said KPU commissioner Ilham Saputra.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said that either a provincial or central government official could serve as acting Makassar mayor.

Quick count

The KPU’s tally shows that the Khofifah Indar Parawansa-Emil Elestianto Dardak ticket won the East Java election with 10,465,218 votes (53.55 percent), beating Saifullah Yusuf-Puti Guntur Soekarno with 9,076,014 votes (46.45 percent). The official tally has a 0.19 percent gap from the quick count that the Kompas research and development (R&D) conducted.

The average deviation between Kompas R&D’s quick count and the KPU’s final vote tally is 0.44 percent in the Central Java election and 0.40 percent in the West Java election.

(BOW/ODY/ETA/RTG/GRE/WHO/WSI/GAL/REK)