Tina-Ihsan's Lawsuit Not Accepted by MK, Andi Sumangerukka-Hugua Lead Southeast Sulawesi

KENDARI, KOMPAS - The Constitutional Court stated that the lawsuit for the Southeast Sulawesi Gubernatorial Election dispute filed by the Tina Nur Alam and LM Ihsan Taufik Ridwan pair cannot be accepted. With this decision, the Andi Sumangerukka-Hugua pair who won the most votes in the regional election will lead Southeast Sulawesi.

The Southeast Sulawesi Governor's Election Results Dispute (PHPU) case was registered at the Constitutional Court (MK) with Number 249/PHPU.GUB-XXIII/2025. The verdict hearing for the Southeast Sulawesi gubernatorial election dispute was read out on Tuesday (4/2/2025) evening. The lawsuit was filed by the candidate pair for Governor and Deputy Governor of Southeast Sulawesi number four, namely Tina Nur Alam and LM Ihsan Taufik Ridwan.

"In the exception, granting the respondent's exception and the related party's exception regarding the applicant's legal standing regarding the fulfillment of Article 158 of Law Number 10 of 2016. Rejecting the respondent's exception and the related party's exception for other than and the rest. In the main petition, the applicant's petition cannot be accepted," said Chief Justice Suhartoyo when reading the verdict.

Before this verdict hearing, LM Ihsan Taufiq Ridwan unilaterally withdrew the application. However, the Constitutional Court rejected the withdrawal because the application was submitted by a candidate pair for governor and deputy governor. The letter of revocation of power of attorney and withdrawal of the application was also not carried out properly because it was only submitted to the Constitutional Court without being submitted to the legal counsel.

Constitutional Justice Arsul Sani said that in this case, the Constitutional Court was of the opinion that there was no reason to set aside the provisions of Article 158 of the Regional Election Law relating to the applicant's legal standing as a formal requirement in submitting a PHPU application for the Governor of Southeast Sulawesi.

The Constitutional Court also did not find any specific incidents that could be considered as having harmed the implementation of the Southeast Sulawesi gubernatorial election. Therefore, the Constitutional Court deemed it irrelevant to proceed with this petition to further trial examination.

Arsul explained that the difference in votes between the petitioner and the candidate pair with the most votes to be able to submit a PHPU request for the 2024 Southeast Sulawesi Governor is 22,194 votes. This is in accordance with the requirement of 1.5 percent of the total valid votes from the final vote count determined by the Southeast Sulawesi KPU, which is 1,479,591 votes.

Meanwhile, the difference in votes between Tina-Ihsan and the Andi Sumangerukka-Hugua pair who won the most votes was 466,810 votes or 31.55 percent. Tina-Ihsan won 308,373 votes, while Andi-Hugua won 775,183 votes.

Thus, the difference in votes between the applicant and the candidate pair with the most votes exceeded the 1.5 percent requirement. "The applicant does not have the legal standing to file an a quo petition," Arsul said.

In addition, the allegation of forgery of the signature of the Chairman of the Regional Leadership Council (DPD) of the Hanura Party of Southeast Sulawesi as well as administrative violations and money politics in a structured, systematic, and massive manner in 13 districts/cities in Southeast Sulawesi has been refuted. This was known after listening to the respondent's response, statements from related parties, and statements from the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) in this case.

"Other evidence submitted by the applicant in the form of photos and videos is considered too vague to justify the alleged money politics. The evidence submitted by is not convincing enough that there was a violation in the form of money politics that is structured, systematic, and massive so that it can affect the results of the 2024 Southeast Sulawesi Governor and Deputy Governor Election," said Arsul.

In their petitum, the Tina-Ihsan pair requested that the Andi Sumangerukka-Hugua candidate pair be disqualified. In addition, Tina-Ihsan also requested that a re-vote be held for the Southeast Sulawesi gubernatorial election at all polling stations (TPS) in 13 regencies/cities in Southeast Sulawesi with only three candidate pairs participating without the Andi Sumangerukka-Hugua pair.

Responding to this decision, Acting Governor of Southeast Sulawesi Andap Budhi Revianto invited all elements of society in the province to maintain togetherness and regional conduciveness. All parties were also asked to prioritize the spirit of unity to build the region.

Andap added that all parties must also respect the Constitutional Court's decision as part of the legal mechanism related to the election result dispute. "The legal process at the Constitutional Court is an important part to understand and become a process for resolving election disputes. Let's build the region with a spirit of unity and togetherness," he said.

In addition to the lawsuit against the Sultra gubernatorial election, nine other regional election disputes in Sultra have also been decided by the Constitutional Court. The nine regions are Baubau City, Wakatobi, South Konawe, Muna, North Kolaka, North Konawe, Buton, Kendari, and South Buton. All of the lawsuits were rejected by the Constitutional Court. The inauguration of the elected regional heads who have been determined will follow the government's schedule.

The legal process at the Constitutional Court is an important part to understand and become a process for resolving regional election disputes. Let's build the region with a spirit of unity and togetherness