Supreme Court upholds PKS win in Depok poll

Supreme Court upholds PKS win in Depok poll

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) were reveling on
Friday after a victory in a protracted legal dispute over the
coveted Depok mayoral post.

A panel of five Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled in
favor of PKS candidates Nur Mahmudi Nur Ismail and Yuyun
Wirasaputra, whose victory in the June 26 election had later been
overturned by the West Java High Court.

"The Supreme Court considers the high court's verdict was
based only on assumptions, not facts," justice Djoko Sarwono
said, as reported by Antara.

The decision opens the way for the newly established Judicial
Commission to further investigate the high court's decision to
see if foul play was involved.

Nur Mahmudi, a former PKS leader and forestry minister, said
the Supreme Court ruling was "a victory for Depok people".

The Supreme Court hearing revolved around the West Java High
Court's decision to award Golkar Party candidate Badrul Kamal and
running-mate Syihabuddin Ahmad the posts of mayor and deputy
mayor in August.

Badrul's camp had contested Nur Mahmudi's win, citing alleged
violations committed by the Depok General Elections Commission
and Nur Mahmudi's followers. According to Badrul's camp, the many
people who were supposed to have voted for him had been denied
access to polling booths.

Responding to the complaint, the West Java High Court pushed
up Badrul's final vote tally to 269,551 at the expense of Nur
Mahmudi, whose votes were reduced to 204,828.

Many observers questioned the high court's verdict, saying the
judges had jumped to an erroneous conclusion that those who had
failed to cast ballots would automatically vote for Badrul. They
said the election result was determined by several judges, not
the voters.

The Judicial Commission also questioned the high court's
decision and concluded its verdict was legally flawed.

As the controversy dragged on, the government suspended the
inauguration of Badrul and Syihabuddin, pending the result of the
Supreme Court hearing.

Djoko said the Supreme Court was aware of the heated debate
about whether it should hear the case, since Law No. 32/2004 on
Regional Administrations stipulates that a high court's ruling on
elections is final and legally binding.

"The justices agreed that they had to make the public's sense
of justice the priority," he said. "Moreover, according to the
same law, the high court's decision was not valid because it
heard the case although period for a contestant to file
complaints had expired."

A contender must file their complaints no later than 14 days
after the regional elections commission endorses the election
results.

"The Depok Elections Commission's decision (on the result of
the mayoral election) is now valid," Djoko said.

He said the Supreme Court was prepared to hear more appeals
filed by election contenders who had contested high court
rulings.

"That's the risk we have to take, but we will only hear cases
if we find gross violations (in the high court's ruling)," he
said.

PKS West Java leader Yudi Widiana said Minister of Home
Affairs M. Ma'ruf should immediately issue a decree that
formalized the Supreme Court's ruling.

Meanwhile, Badrul's lawyer, Albert M. Sagala, questioned the
verdict, citing a 2005 ministerial regulation that stipulates
that a case review of a high court's ruling is illegal.