Ignoring Citizens' Constitutional Rights, Banjarbaru City KPU Chairman Dismissed

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Honorary Council of Election Organizers, or DKPP, has ordered the dismissal of four members of the Banjarbaru City General Election Commission during an ethics hearing for election organizers. This decision serves as a stern warning to organizers to uphold election laws without any deviations.

In addition to the Chairperson of the Banjarbaru City General Elections Commission (KPU), Dahtiar, three other members who were dismissed are Resty Fatma Sari, Normadina, and Hereyanto. Meanwhile, another member, Haris Fadilah, received a stern warning.

In addition to Banjarbaru City, the verdict hearing on the alleged violation of the Election Organizer Code of Ethics in Jakarta, Friday (28/2/2025), also ruled on cases from six other regions. These regions include Southwest Papua Province, Central Tapanuli Regency, Banjar Regency, Morowali Regency, Tana Tidung Regency, and North Barito Regency.

The decisions received by the reported parties varied, ranging from stern warnings to rehabilitation. However, the dismissal ruling in this hearing only applied to a member of the Banjarbaru City General Elections Commission (KPU).

Ordering the General Elections Commission to implement this decision no later than seven days after it is announced. Ordering the Election Supervisory Agency to oversee the implementation of this decision.

"Ordering the General Elections Commission to implement this decision no later than seven days after it is announced. Ordering the Election Supervisory Agency to oversee the implementation of this decision," said DKPP Chairman Heddy Lukito, who presided over the session.

In addition to Heddy, the hearing was presided over by four other DKPP members, namely J Kristiadi, Ratna Dewi Pettalolo, I Dewa Kade Wiarsa Raka Sandi, and Muhammad Tio Aliansyah. This verdict proves violations of the code of ethics and guidelines for election organizers.

The Banjarbaru City KPU committed a violation because it continued to use ballots with two candidate pairs. In fact, one of the candidate pairs, namely Muhammad Aditya Mufti Ariffin and Said Abdullah, had been disqualified.

In fact, in the results of the Banjarbaru City Pilkada which took place simultaneously with all regions in Indonesia, November 27, 2024, the majority of residents voted for the Aditya-Said pair.

Based on the recapitulation of the Banjarbaru City KPU, the Erna Lisa Halaby-Wartono pair won 36,135 valid votes. Meanwhile, invalid votes reached 78,736 votes, and most of them were due to voting for Aditya-Said's photo.

This invalid decision was taken because the members of the Banjarbaru City KPU used the provisions of the General Election Commission Decree Number 1774 of 2024.

In Chapter V section b, number 1 letter d point 5, it is stated that the head of the KPPS can declare the ballot paper invalid if the name of the candidate pair that was voted for was cancelled due to a recommendation from Bawaslu or a decision from a judicial institution.

On the other hand, the Banjarbaru City KPU ignored the obligation to make the photo of the disqualified pair an empty box. This violates a higher rule, namely Article 54C paragraph 2 of Law Number 10 of 2016 concerning the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors.

The regulation concerns ballot papers that use blank boxes or boxes without pictures if there is only one candidate pair during the election.

"The action is contrary to the law and ethics of election administration. The defendants (members of the Banjarbaru City KPU) have eliminated the constitutional rights of citizens, namely the right to vote," said the chairman of the hearing.

Previously, the results of the Banjarbaru City Pilkada were challenged at the Constitutional Court with the applicant being the Coordinator of the Visi Nusantara Study Institute with Case Number 05/PHPU.WAKO-XXIII/2025. This lawsuit was partially granted in the Constitutional Court's decision hearing, February 24, 2025.

According to Enny, the empty column mechanism guarantees the existence of elections and contestation in the implementation of elections with one candidate pair. Meanwhile, in the Banjarbaru City Mayoral Election, the picture of the disqualified pair was still displayed and the consequence of this was an invalid vote if you voted for that column.

This, Enny continued, resulted in the absence of meaningful choices in the one man, one vote, one value mechanism. This means that one voter has one meaningful vote. However, in the Banjarbaru City Pilkada, there was no option to vote for an empty box as a statement of disagreement with the remaining candidates.

"In principle, the Court cannot allow violations of the constitutional rights of voters to occur due to errors in voting and vote counting procedures in the Regional Election," said Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih when delivering the Court's considerations in the hearing.

Lecturer of Election Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia, Titi Anggraini, appreciated the DKPP's decision. This should also be a warning and an important lesson so that all election organizers are more careful, cautious, and consistent in maintaining integrity.

According to Titi, the warning does not stop at the regional KPU. The central KPU also needs to be sanctioned because it is part of the policy-making that is a reference for the regional KPU in running a single candidate election without an empty box.

"This is the right decision, considering the destructive power that has been created by the reckless decision to continue the Banjarbaru regional election with a single candidate without the empty box option. This sanction can target the KPU RI, because this decision cannot be separated from consultation and coordination between them," said Titi.