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Court wraps up hearings, poll results pending
The Jakarta Post , JAKARTA | Thu, 06/25/2009 11:08 AM | Presidential Election
After five weeks of almost non-stop hearings, the Constitutional Court has resolved all 71 lawsuits involving 600 election dispute cases as scheduled Wednesday, leaving all legislative election results pending.
As many as 27 lawsuits from political parties as well as Regional Representatives Council (DPD) candidates were partly granted.
The court issued several controversial verdicts, such as ordering the General Elections Commission (KPU) to hold legislative election reruns and recheck vote counts in several areas, as well as pending the recent legislative election results.
The court ordered election reruns and vote rechecks in several areas such as South Nias, North Sumatra; Rokan Hulu, Riau; Yahukimo, Papua; and Tulang Bawang, Lampung due to various violations.
On June 11, the court ordered the KPU to revise election results at the national level declaring the result was based on a misinterpretation of the legislative seat allocation method. The verdict might cause 26 legislators-elect to lose their seats at the House of Representatives (DPR).
The court also recorded the longest hearing in its history. The hearing between the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the KPU took 17 hours on May 28.
"We carried out the hearings day and night," Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD said Wednesday
"Disagreements on our decision are bound to happen, but the court's decision is final and binding."
He said that incomplete, unclear, mixed-up, and inconsistent evidence as well as poor coordination between the plaintiffs and their lawyers often sparked controversies during hearings.
The last day of the hearing saw the People's Conscience Party's (Hanura) lawyer, Gusti Randa, being forced to leave the court after he protested the court's decision while it was being read.
The court decided to partly grant Hanura Party's lawsuits and ordered the KPU to hold election reruns and vote rechecks in Tulang Bawang.
Gusti said the court's decision was principally and fatally wrong because it verified faulty evidence and allowed the absence of the defendant during the hearings.
Mahfud said Gusti's conduct was in contempt of court, as it interrupted the reading.
According to the general election law, all election disputes are settled in the Constitutional Court and the KPU is must carry out the court's orders as they are final and binding.
Responding to the court's verdicts, KPU member Andi Nurpati said the KPU would carry out election reruns at the same time as the presidential election on July 8 to make it more efficient. He said the recount of votes would be carried out after the presidential election.
Abdul Aziz, a KPU member in charge of logistics, said ballots for the vote reruns had been printed and could now be distributed. (fmb)
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