Commission quizzes judges over Depok election dispute<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The National Judicial Commission summoned on Monday five judges
\nof the West Java High Court for questioning over the latter's
\ncontroversial verdict, which annulled the result of the Depok
\nmayoral election.<\/p>\n
The probe was focussed on how the judges made the ruling, said
\nacting chairman of the commission Irawadi Joenoes.<\/p>\n
\"What we would investigate is the process, not the verdict,\"
\nhe was quoted as saying by detik.com news portal prior to the
\nstart of the inquiry.<\/p>\n
The commission, which was set up recently, has no authority to
\nannul a court ruling, but is tasked to review the performance of
\njudges in the country and can recommend administrative sanctions
\nagainst judges who perform poorly to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Irawadi said the commission would issue its opinion on the
\ncase on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"We'll make a decision as to whether the judges had made
\nmistakes or not in issuing the verdict ... The recommendation
\nwill be submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Supreme
\nCourt,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The West Java High Court annulled the victory of Nur Mahmudi
\nIsmail of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in the June 26
\nelection for Depok mayor, and declared Golkar Party candidate
\nBadrul Kamal as the winner in a bid to settle the election
\ndispute. The Court ruled that 27,782 votes had been incorrectly
\ngiven to Nur Mahmudi, and 62,770 votes taken away from Badrul.<\/p>\n
The ruling immediately drew protests from the PKS and the
\nDepok Election Commission (KPUD). The latter had requested for a
\njudicial review of the verdict with the Supreme Court, although
\nthe High Court's ruling is final and binding.<\/p>\n
Previous reports said that a team of judges from the Supreme
\nCourt had criticized the West Java High Court judges for
\nexceeding their jurisdiction. They argued that while the court is
\nauthorized to settle election disputes, the whole court process
\nshould have been devoted to seeing whether the vote counting was
\ncarried out properly. But instead, the court questioned the
\neligibility of people to vote.<\/p>\n
The team faulted the judges for assuming that the 62,770
\nvoters who failed to cast their votes would have voted for
\nBadrul.<\/p>\n
Critics also protested the Court's ruling as it was based
\nmostly on evidence given by Badrul's supporters during the
\nhearing, while no supporters of Nur Mahmudi were summoned to
\ntestify.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/commission-quizzes-judges-over-depok-election-dispute-1447893297",
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