Court issues first verdict in interparty dispute
Court issues first verdict in interparty dispute
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta
The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) gained an additional seat in
the House of Representatives on Monday thanks to the
Constitutional Court's first verdict in an interparty election
dispute trial.
A total of 287 election suits have been filed by 23 political
parties and Regional Representatives Council candidates with the
court, which must resolve all disputes by June 20. Only the
Indonesia Nahdlatul Community Party (PPNUI) did not file a suit.
On Monday a panel of nine judges ruled that the Christian-
based PDS garnered a total of 30,812 votes in West Papua province
in the April 5 legislative election, compared to the General
Elections Commission (KPU)'s tally of 23,412 for the party.
"The KPU failed to count as many as 7,400 votes the party
garnered in Sorong regency," Constitutional Court chairman Jimly
Asshidiqie said.
The verdict gave the PDS a total of 13 seats in the House. The
decision also meant the United Democratic Nationhood Party (PPDK)
lost one of its five seats in the House. The party did not
contest the verdict.
Amir Syamsuddin, who represented the KPU in the dispute, said
the commission would soon execute the court's decision, which is
final and binding.
The court, however, rejected 11 other election lawsuits filed
by the PDS because of lack of evidence or for administrative
reasons.
It did grant two petitions filed by the Golkar Party
concerning the North Aceh and Muaro Jambi regencies. The court
said the KPU made a mistake in the ballot count at Electoral
District 6 in North Aceh.
According to the court, Golkar received 1,489 more votes in
North Aceh then it was credited for in the KPU's tally of 8,954
votes.
It also said that Golkar received 11,199 votes in Electoral
District 2 in Muaro Jambi regency, not the 10,668 announced by
the KPU.
The verdicts gave Golkar one seat each in the North Aceh and
Muaro Jambi regency legislatures.
The court, however, rejected Golkar's claim that it should
receive four additional seats in the House from the Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam, North Sumatra, Central Sulawesi and South Sulawesi
electoral districts because of administrative errors.
The court also rejected eight suits filed by the Indonesian
Justice and Unity Party (PKP Indonesia), the PPDK and the
Indonesian Unity Party (PSI) because of administrative matters.
According to Jimly, the three parties failed to provide
sufficient evidence and did not follow administrative procedures
when filing the suits. He did not elaborate.
Jumhur Hidayat, the secretary-general of the PSI, expressed
disappointment over the verdict, saying the court failed to live
up to its duty.
"We will hold a rally soon. They didn't do their job properly.
They didn't examine our evidence," he said after the hearing.
The settlement of electoral disputes in the Constitutional
Court is a new phenomenon for the country, which adopted new
systems for both the legislative and presidential elections this
year.
The court had warned that its verdicts in electoral disputes
could change seat distributions in the legislative bodies.
It has asked both the police and the leaders of the 24
political parties that contested the April 5 legislative election
to encourage people to accept the court's decisions.