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KPU commissioner to challenge ethics council ruling on her dismissal
The elections commissioner has implied that the ruling was flawed, arguing that the KPU had referred to a Constitutional Court ruling in the case.
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Evi Novida Ginting Manik (right) speaks with General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Arief Budiman (left) during a press briefing on Thursday, March 19, 2020, at the KPU's Jakarta headquarters. (Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat)
E
vi Novida Ginting Manik of the General Elections Commission (KPU) has asserted that she would challenge the decision of the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP) that has found against her and ruled that she be dismissed "permanently".
The council issued the ruling on Wednesday at a disciplinary hearing in Jakarta, after it found that Evi had violated the KPU's code of ethics by falsifying the results of the 2019 regional election in West Kalimantan.
The following day, on March 19, Evi said that the DKPP ruling was "too much", saying that no one had been harmed by the results of the West Kalimantan legislative election. She also noted that the plaintiff, Gerindra Party politician Hendri Makaluasc, had on Nov. 13, 2019 retracted the lawsuit he had filed with the council.
Evi continued that the KPU took a different view than the council on the matter, that it had only adhered to a Constitutional Court ruling regarding the West Kalimantan election results.
"In accordance with Law No. 7/2017 on election disputes, the KPU viewed that the Constitutional Court’s ruling must be implemented. However, the DKPP stated that our action was an ethics violation," she said. "We didn’t change the results."
The ethics council found that the KPU was responsible for manipulating the votes in West Kalimantan electorate district 6 by transferring a number of votes from Hendri Makaluasc to Cok Hendri Ramapon, another Gerindra politician who was contesting the legislative election.
The council also issued a stern warning to KPU chairman Arief Budiman and commissioners Pramono Ubaid Tanthowi, Ilham Saputra, Viryan Azis and Hasyim Asy'ari.
Commissioner Pramono said that the KPU respected the council's ruling and would study it carefully, but insisted that Evi did not manipulate the election results as the DKPP had ruled.
"Evi did not take the initiative or give the order to intervene in or change the election result,” he said.
Pramono added that the KPU had appointed commissioner Hasyim Asy'ari to take over its technical division from Evi following the ruling.
