“We will follow the Constitutional Court ruling,” Ketut Sukawati Lanang Prabawa, chairman of the Bali election commission said Sunday.

He said the reelection had not yet been scheduled, but the court gave a deadline of 45 days.

The court said there had been conspired violations found at the 12 polling stations, with some people voting more than once, claiming they were  “representing other voters”, who couldn’t make it to the polling station.

The violations, as supported by the findings of election supervisory committee, contradicted democratic principles, the court said in its ruling.

The court also annulled a decree issued by the Bangli election commission regarding the result of the election that declared Made Gianyar and Sang Nyoman Sedana Arta as regent and deputy regent. The pair was nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Five candidate pairs contested in the May 4 election in Bangli, which was held simultaneously with election in Badung, Tabanan and Karangasem regions; and Denpasar municipality.

The Bangli election commission declared Gianyar and Arta as the winner with 52,892 votes or 37.38 percent of the total votes, while Brahmaputra and Winurjaya closely followed  with 49,067 votes or 35.06 percent.

Brahmaputra and Winurjaya then filed a suit to the Constitutional Court, demanding a reelection in 132 polling stations, claiming widespread fraud took place in those stations. However, the court only instructed reelections at 12 polling stations in Kintamani, Bangli and Tembuku districts.

Of all the 12 polling stations, nine are in Kintamani, one in Bangli and two in Tembuku.

To hold a re-election, the election commission should extend its contract with the polling officers as their contracts expired May 20, or recruitment to hire the officers.

If need be, the commission must also print an extra 5,000 ballot papers for the reelection.

“We’re still checking if we have ballot papers left over from the last election, so we can save the budget”.

The commission calculated the reelection should cost less than Rp 50 million, Lanang said, adding that it still had enough in the budget.

“We don’t have any  problem with the budget, because we anticipated a second round.”

The election results in Tabanan regency were also called into dispute, with the candidate from the Golkar Wayan Sukaja and I Gusti Ngurah Anom, filing a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court, citing alleged inconsistencies behind the victory of PDI-P candidates Ni Putu Eka Wiryastuti and Komang Gede Sanjaya.

However, the court upheld the election results.

Wiryastuti and Sanjaya won with 134,589 votes, or 48.59 percent, narrowly beating Sukaja and Anom with 116,148 votes or 41.93 percent.

Popular

BI surprises with third consecutive rate cut as Fed move looms

Explainer: Social media as town square, battleground in Indonesia’s protests

Taiwan raises alert over cancer-causing chemical in Indomie