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Analysis: Court orders election reruns, discovers abuse of power
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The nine justices of the Constitutional Court preside over a hearing. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
T
he Constitutional Court has wrapped up all of the sessions to adjudicate regional election disputes and handed down several key rulings, including the most significant one, which was a vote rerun in several regions. The election reruns will be held amid the government’s austerity measures that may compromise the fair and transparent principles of the democratic process.
Of the 310 objections that candidates submitted to the Court following the Nov. 27, 2024 simultaneous regional head elections, 227 were deemed unacceptable, 29 were withdrawn, eight lacked the necessary supporting documentation and six were considered to fall outside the Court's jurisdiction.
In the end, the Court only heard 40 election disputes, three of which were filed by losing gubernatorial candidates, three by losing mayoral candidates and 34 by losing candidates for regent posts.
In its rulings, the Court ordered election reruns in 24 regions, including the Papua Province, cities of Banjarbaru, Sabang and Palopo, as well as 20 regencies.
In addition, the Court ruled a repeat of vote counting in the Puncak Jaya election and correction of the election result documents by the Jayapura poll body.
The Court declared a vote rerun in 24 regions imperative due to maladministration by the election organizers, such as miscalculation of the number of eligible voters, incomplete documents submitted by candidates and candidates’ criminal records that went unchecked.
However, the Court also ordered a vote rerun in several regions upon recommendations of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), which found massive and systemic election fraud, as well as intimidation against voters.
