Need a Budget of Almost IDR 1 Trillion, Which Regions Will Hold PSU Pilkada?

Sharp criticism was expressed by several members of Commission II of the House of Representatives towards the election organizers regarding administrative errors that led to the 2024 Regional Head Election (Pilkada) re-vote (PSU). These errors were deemed preventable but instead burdened the state with a budget of nearly Rp 1 trillion.

The criticism was conveyed by members of Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR) during a meeting with the General Elections Commission (KPU), the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), the Honorary Council for Election Organizers (DKPP), and the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) at the Parliament complex, Jakarta, Thursday (27/2/2025).

A member of Commission II of the House of Representatives from the PDI-P faction, Deddy Sitorus, assessed that this electoral contest has failed, not only because many regions had to conduct repeat voting (PSU), but also because the majority of regions filed disputes over the regional election results with the Constitutional Court (MK).

Out of 545 regional election results, 310 of them were contested at the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court ruled that 24 regions must conduct a re-vote. Administrative errors were the main cause of the re-vote, such as issues with term periods, diploma legality, certificates of no criminal record, and voter data.

A member of Commission II of the House of Representatives from the Golkar faction, Taufan Pawe, also regretted the administrative negligence, particularly regarding the requirements for prospective regional head candidates. He doubted the integrity of the parties who falsified these requirements and questioned how such actions could escape oversight.

The Chairman of the General Elections Commission (KPU), Mochammad Afifuddin, responded to the criticism by accepting input from the House of Representatives (DPR) and promised to use it as a step for improvement, particularly during the repeat voting (PSU) or vote recapitulation.

Referring to the data on the Constitutional Court's website, there is one province that must hold a re-vote for the gubernatorial election, namely Papua. Meanwhile, there are three cities that must conduct a re-vote, namely Palopo (South Sulawesi), Sabang (Aceh), and Banjarbaru (South Kalimantan).

The regencies that must hold a re-vote include Pulau Taliabu (North Maluku), Siak (Riau), Parigi Moutong (Central Sulawesi), South Bengkulu (Bengkulu), Bungo (Jambi), North Gorontalo (Gorontalo), Banggai (Central Sulawesi), and Talaud Islands (North Sulawesi).

In addition, there are Kutai Kertanegara (East Kalimantan), Pesawaran (Lampung), Serang (Banten), West Bangka (Bangka Belitung), Empat Lawang (South Sumatra), Tasikmalaya (West Java), Magetan (East Java), North Barito (Central Kalimantan), Buru (Maluku), Pasaman (West Sumatra), Boven Digoel (Papua), Mahakam Ulu (East Kalimantan).

The following is a summary of Kompas' news coverage regarding the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the implementation of PSU in a number of regions:

The Constitutional Court annulled the victory of the candidate pair for governor and deputy governor of Papua, Benhur Tomi Mano-Yermias Bisai, in the 2024 Papua Pilkada. This decision was taken because the Constitutional Court found dishonesty and bad faith from Yermias Bisai in fulfilling the nomination requirements, especially regarding inconsistent population and domicile data.

The Constitutional Court ordered the Papua KPU to hold a re-vote (PSU) without Yermias Bisai's participation, and asked the KPU and Bawaslu to carry out strict supervision and oversight of the implementation of the PSU.

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra highlighted the oddities in Yermias Bisai's nomination requirements documents, especially regarding the residential address and domicile listed in the certificate of never having been convicted and the certificate of not having had his voting rights revoked. The differences and inconsistencies in the writing of numbers and RW numbers are the main concerns.

Constitutional Judge Arsul Sani said that Yermias' actions had violated election principles because he was proven to be dishonest and did not act in good faith in fulfilling the requirements for a deputy gubernatorial candidate.

This electoral contest was deemed to have failed, not only because many regions had to conduct a PSU, but also because the majority of regions submitted disputes over the election results to the Constitutional Court (MK).

The Constitutional Court annulled the victory of the candidate pair for regent and deputy regent of Serang, Banten, number 2, Ratu Rachmatuzakiyah and Muhammad Najib Hamas, in the 2024 Pilkada. This decision was taken because the Constitutional Court found evidence of the active involvement of the Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions (Mendes PDTT), Yandri Susanto, in providing support from village heads to the candidate pair.

The Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Suhartoyo, stated that the Constitutional Court had strong evidence showing that Yandri Susanto, who is also the husband of regent candidate Ratu Rachmatuzakiyah, attended and organized activities that led to massive support from village heads for candidate pair number 2.

Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih added that the relationship between the candidate for regent and the Minister of Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration had created a causal relationship that had an impact on the village head's bias.

Due to the violation, the Constitutional Court ordered a PSU in all TPS in Serang Regency. However, the Constitutional Court did not disqualify candidate pair number 2 because the violation was not committed directly by them.

The Constitutional Court annulled the victory of the Erna Lisa Halaby-Wartono pair in the Banjarbaru City Pilkada, South Kalimantan. The Constitutional Court ordered the Banjarbaru City KPU to hold a PSU in all TPS in the region, with only one candidate pair participating.

This decision was taken because previously the Banjarbaru City KPU had canceled the participation of candidate pair number 2, Aditya Mufti Arifin-Said Abdullah, due to administrative violations, but did not implement an election model with a single candidate.

Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih in her consideration stated that the invalid mechanism of ballots marked in the column for candidate pair number 2 contradicts the mechanism for electing a single candidate. In a regional election with a single candidate, there should be an empty column that is contested with the valid votes of the single candidate pair.

The Constitutional Court also considered that the decision of the Banjarbaru City KPU to use ballots with images of two candidate pairs had ignored the rights of voters to cast their votes. This resulted in confusion among voters and the Constitutional Court doubted the truth of the vote tally in the previous regional elections.

The Constitutional Court annulled the results of the Tasikmalaya Regency Pilkada, West Java, because the incumbent regent candidate, Ade Sugianto, was deemed not to have met the nomination requirements. The Constitutional Court ruled that Ade Sugianto had served as the Regent of Tasikmalaya for two terms and therefore did not meet the requirements to run again.

The Constitutional Court ordered the Tasikmalaya Regency KPU to hold a PSU without including Ade Sugianto, no later than 60 days since the verdict was read. The Constitutional Court left it entirely up to political parties or a coalition of political parties to find a replacement for Ade Sugianto as a running mate for the deputy regent candidate, Iip Miptahul Paoz.

Constitutional Justice Guntur Hamzah explained that the ruling referred to four previous Constitutional Court rulings regarding the calculation of the term of office of regional heads. The Constitutional Court emphasized that a term of office that has been served for half or more than half a period is still counted as one full period.

In addition, the calculation of the term of office is no longer differentiated between definitive and temporary positions, but is calculated in real terms from when a regional head carries out his duties, regardless of his status as acting head, acting head, or daily head.

The Constitutional Court disqualified Pasaman deputy regent candidate number 1, Anggit Kurniawan Nasution, because he was considered dishonest regarding his status as a former convict. This decision was taken after the Constitutional Court granted part of the petition of candidate pair number 3, Sabar AS and Sukardi, who questioned Anggit's status as a former convict.

Anggit was once convicted of fraud, but gave information that was not in accordance with the facts, including submitting a police record certificate stating that he had no criminal record. The Constitutional Court considered this action to violate the principles of holding regional head elections that are fair, democratic, and have integrity.

In its considerations, the Constitutional Court stated that Anggit should have rejected the police record certificate and the certificate from the South Jakarta District Court which did not correspond to the fact that he had been a convict.

The Constitutional Court ordered the KPU to hold a PSU in Pasaman, West Sumatra, no later than 60 days after the verdict was read, by giving the supporting parties the opportunity to replace Anggit, without changing the regent candidate Welly Suhery.

The Constitutional Court ordered a repeat vote in all polling stations in Mahakam Ulu Regency, East Kalimantan, after finding evidence of structured, systematic, and massive (TSM) violations in the implementation of the regional elections. This decision also disqualified candidate pair number 3, Owena Mayang Shari Belawan and Stanislaus Liah, who were previously declared the winners.

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra stated that candidate pair number 3 had violated the principles of democratic elections so that disqualification was considered the right action. The violations in question included massive money politics practices through political contracts by promising money to voters.

The Constitutional Court found that the campaign of candidate pair number 3 in one of the places was accompanied by the Mahakam Ulu Regency Government program so that it was considered to provide benefits for them and harm other candidate pairs. In addition, the Constitutional Court also highlighted the involvement of the incumbent who is also the parent of the regent candidate from candidate pair number 3.

The Constitutional Court also highlighted the existence of a political contract between candidate pair number 3 and the RT heads. In the contract, among other things, a village fund of at least IDR 4 billion to IDR 8 billion per village per year was promised. The Constitutional Court considered that this political contract exceeded the permitted political promises and was an attempt to systematically recruit a winning team.

Note: This article is a summary of a number of related articles related to the re-voting of the regional elections that have been published in Kompas.id. The summary process uses the help of an artificial intelligence (AI) machine. The summary results have been read and checked again by the editor. Here is a list of source articles: