Some of the PPP legislative election disputes failed, MK judges were seen as being fixated on procedural justice

As of Tuesday at 19.00, eight PPP cases had not continued. The Constitutional Court judges' values ​​are focused on procedural justice

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Nine constitutional judges at the Constitutional Court attended a hearing on the decision on the Dispute of Election Results for the Legislative Election in the Main Courtroom of the Constitutional Court, Jakarta, on Tuesday (21/5/2024).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - Legal Counsel for the United Development Party, Erfandi Syaqroni, believes that constitutional judges are too fixated on procedural justice. In fact, judges should examine cases based on substantive justice in deciding cases at the Constitutional Court, including PPP cases. The reason is, some PPP cases do not only focus on the argument for transferring party votes to other political parties.

"Like the lawsuit in Central Papua, we are more focused on the substance of the votes cast by voters so that should be considered when going into evidence," said Erfandi when met on the sidelines of the trial with the agenda of reading the dismissal decision, Tuesday. (21/5/2024), at the Constitutional Court (MK) building, Jakarta.

However, despite this, added Erfandi, PPP respected the MK's decision. Even though some cases have failed, his party is still optimistic that its clients can still meet the parliamentary threshold of 4 percent. Moreover, there are still several other cases that will only be decided on Wednesday (22/5/2024).

Also read: PPP Lawsuit Falls, MK Says Petitioner Failed to Explain Vote Transfer

Previously, a trial led by the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Suhartoyo, read the verdicts of 13 disputes over the results of the legislative member elections of the People's Representative Council (DPR) submitted by PPP. As of Tuesday at 7 p.m., eight cases that have been read were not continued to the examination trial despite PPP's request. Those eight cases are in the provinces of West Java, Central Java, Central Papua, East Kalimantan, Aceh, Lampung, Banten, and West Sumatra.

"Like the case in Central Papua, we focus more on the substance of the voters' voice, which should be considered as evidence."

Meanwhile, the cases in five other provinces will be read at 7:30 pm, namely North Sumatra Province, North Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, and South Sumatra.

Of the eight failed PPP requests, seven of them claimed that there was illegitimate transfer of votes from PPP to the Partai Garda Republik Indonesia. The details are as follows: West Java (36,862 votes), Central Java (6,075 votes), East Kalimantan (5,061 votes), Aceh (5,300 votes), Lampung (13,670 votes), Banten (18,600 votes), and West Sumatra (5,611 votes).

"Out of the eight failed requests, seven of them were cases alleging unauthorized voice transfer from PPP to the Indonesian Republic Guard Party."

Opportunities Slim

So far, the chance for PPP to survive in parliament is dwindling, especially after some of the disputes over the election results of DPR members did not proceed to the evidence session. PPP was unable to explain the transfer of votes to the Garuda Republic Party (Partai Garda Republik Indonesia - Garuda).

"The chances for PPP to survive in Parliament are dwindling, especially after some disputes over the results of the election of members of DPR did not proceed to the evidence session."

Previously, the total number of votes that were allegedly transferred from these seven provinces reached 91,179 votes or almost half of the vote deficit to reach 4%. Meanwhile, in the presented argument, the PPP stated that there had been vote transfers from PPP to Garuda in 35 electoral districts or 19 provinces.

The vote count for PPP previously determined by the General Elections Commission (KPU) was 5,878,777 or 3.87 percent. PPP needs 193,088 votes to reach the parliamentary threshold of 4 percent.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The attorneys for the applicant were present during the hearing of the verdict for the Election Dispute of the General Election and Legislative Election (PHPU Pileg) in the Main Courtroom of the Constitutional Court, Jakarta, on Tuesday (21/5/2024).

The Chairman of the KPU, Hasyim Asy'ari, stated that the failure of some cases submitted by PPP has made it increasingly difficult for the party to obtain a minimum of 4 percent of the vote. The decision also shows that the KPU at all levels has carried out a step-by-step vote recapitulation procedure according to the procedure.

"As a consequence, PPP's efforts through the Constitutional Court to achieve the minimal parliamentary threshold of 4 percent of votes apparently cannot be reached due to the dismissal ruling stating that some of PPP's cases cannot be continued for evidentiary examination."

"Consequently, PPP's efforts through the Constitutional Court to achieve the minimum vote share of the parliamentary threshold of 4 percent apparently cannot be achieved because the dismissal decision states that a number of PPP cases cannot proceed to an evidentiary examination," he said.

In most of its decisions, the judge stated that PPP was unable to explain in detail at which polling stations vote transfers occurred and how it could happen. PPP also only listed a table of vote acquisition comparisons between the applicant and the Garuda Party according to the applicant and defendant, without clear and adequate explanations and descriptions.

Also read: The Constitutional Court considers the application to be vague and unclear, PPP's lawsuit in eight provinces has failed

"The applicant did not clearly mention the location of the TPS (polling station) and did not explain in detail the event of the applicant's vote transfer to the Garuda Party, nor did the applicant explain whether the vote transfer to the Garuda Party came from the applicant's party's vote or from the candidate's voice from the applicant's party," said Constitutional Judge Guntur Hamzah when reading case 100-01-17-12/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024 for West Java.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Constitutional judge M Guntur Hamzah attended the reading of the verdict on the Dispute of General Election Results (PHPU) for the 2024 Presidential Election by constitutional judges at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta on Monday (22/4/2024).

Guntur also revealed that PPP did not clearly explain at which polling stations and at what level of vote tallying the transfer of applicant's votes occurred. The applicants only stated a number claimed as lost or transferred votes without showing or explaining clear and adequate comparison data so that it can be seen how the transfer of PPP votes to the Garuda Party occurred.