PKS takes legal action against W. Java High Court

PKS takes legal action against W. Java High Court

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Bandung

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has taken formal legal action
against the West Java High Court's ruling in which it decided to
overturn an initial victory for the PKS candidate Nur Mahmudi
Ismail in the Depok mayoral election.

Accompanied by his campaign manager and legal team from the
PKS, Nur Mahmudi reported the electoral dispute to the Judicial
Commission on Tuesday in a bid to have the ruling overturned.

"We are coming here to report the 'abnormal' behavior of the
judges when issuing the verdict. We will report this to the
Judicial Commission," Nur Mahmudi said on his arrival at the
commission's office in Jakarta.

In addition, the PKS and the Depok district election
commission and the West Java provincial election commission have
also decided to file a request with the Supreme Court to review
the ruling.

"We truly respect the legal process. That's why we've reported
this case to the home affairs minister, the Supreme Court and the
Judicial Commission.

"We hope these improprieties can be fixed. Otherwise, it will
become a bad precedent for certain parties wanting to file a
lawsuit against regional election results," said Nur Mahmudi as
quoted by Antara.

He added that he was not hungry for power, but was only
looking for justice.

The dispute would be the first case handled by the Judicial
Commission, whose seven members were inaugurated just last week
by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The body has not even
selected its chairman yet, but has appointed Irawady Joenoes as
acting chairman.

The West Java High Court last Friday annulled the victory of
Nur Mahmudi in the June 26 election for Depok mayor, and instead
declared Golkar Party candidate Badrul Kamal as the winner. The
Court ruled that 27,782 votes had been incorrectly given to
Nur Mahmudi, and 62,770 votes taken away from Badrul.

The court ruling drew protests from the PKS and many political
analysts as it was based on evidence presented only by witnesses
believed to be Badrul's supporters, while none of Nur Mahmudi's
supporters were summoned to testify at the hearing.

Indra Perwira, an administrative law expert from Padjadjaran
University in Bandung, said the West Java poll commission had
appointed him and four lawyers to represent it in the legal
battle at the Supreme Court, while the PKS had named senior
lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution to act on behalf of the party.

Indra said that reviewing the verdict was possible based on
Law No. 4/2004 on the judicial affairs authority, particularly on
Article 23 which stipulates that people can ask the Supreme Court
to review a court ruling even though it is already final and
binding.

"The ruling is final, which means it cannot be fought through
conventional methods like normal appeals, but through an
extraordinary way, which is a request for a Supreme Court's
review," Indra explained during a radio talk show in Bandung.

The PKS, he said, would also provide new evidence to the West
Java High Court because it had not heard testimony from witnesses
that support PKS when handing down the controversial ruling.

Indra said it was now the Supreme Court's responsibility to
make a breakthrough in settling the dispute wisely.

Meanwhile, West Java Governor Danny Setiawan denied
allegations that he interfered in the West Java court's ruling
which favored Badrul, his fellow Golkar member and the father of
Danny's son in law.

"Who said that? I've never interfered. That's a legal matter,"
Danny said angrily.

The governor said the case should become a lesson for upcoming
local elections in Bandung, Indramayu and Karawang, so that such
bitter disputes could be prevented.