JAKARTA, LEGAL LITERACY – The Constitutional Court (MK) held a Preliminary Hearing for the Dispute over the Results of the General Election (PHPU) for the DPR-DPRD on Thursday (2/5/2024). The hearing was presided over by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, accompanied by Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman and Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih.

The hearing, which took place in Panel Hearing Room 3 of the Constitutional Court, handled the case with number 232-02-01-06/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024. This case was filed by Soderi Tario, a candidate for member of the DPRD of Ogan Komering Ulu Regency, Electoral District (Dapil) 2, from the National Awakening Party (PKB), serial number 1, concerning the Decision of the General Election Commission (KPU) Number 360 of 2024.

In the trial, the Petitioner argued that there were differences in the vote count between the Respondent (KPU) and the Petitioner, particularly regarding the votes obtained by the Petitioner and PKB legislative candidate number 9, Muslimin. According to the Petitioner, Muslimin should have obtained 2,204 votes, different from the 2,333 votes stipulated by the Respondent. In addition, the PKB votes according to the Petitioner were 868, different from the 839 stipulated by the Respondent.

“The acquisition of the National Awakening Party according to the Respondent is 839 votes, while according to the Petitioner it is 868 votes, meaning there is a reduction of 29 votes, Your Honor,” said Raden Adidarmo Pramudji as the Petitioner's Attorney.

The Petitioner assessed that this difference in votes was caused by a reduction of 29 votes from PKB which were added to Muslimin, PKB legislative candidate number 9, in 18 polling stations (TPS) in Ulu Ogan District. This addition of votes allegedly occurred due to an error in data input by the Respondent, which can be seen in the C1 TPS and D-Hasil Kecamatan documents. According to the Petitioner, the transfer of these votes caused the Petitioner's votes to be below Muslimin's votes. Conversely, if the transferred party votes are returned, the Petitioner's votes will be 6 votes higher than Muslimin's.

“There are Party votes that went to legislative candidate number 9 in the name of Muslimin. If the votes are not transferred, then the Petitioner is superior with 2,210 votes,” said Raden Adidarmo.

Regarding this matter, the Petitioner requested the Constitutional Court to grant his request by canceling the Decision of the General Election Commission Number 360 of 2024 and stipulating the correct vote acquisition results according to the Petitioner.