JAKARTA, LEGAL LITERACY – The Constitutional Court (MK) held a Preliminary Hearing for the Dispute over the General Election Results (PHPU) for the DPR-DPRD on Thursday (2/5/2024) afternoon. The hearing was presided over by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat, accompanied by Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman and Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih. The hearing, which took place in Panel 3 Hearing Room of the MK, handled the case with number 226-01-17-24/PHPU.DPR-DPRD-XXII/2024, filed by the United Development Party (PPP). The representatives of PPP were H. Muhamad Mardiono as Acting Chairman and H. M. Arwani Thomafi as Secretary General. This case concerns the filling of members of the Tarakan City DPRD in the Electoral District (Dapil) 1 of Central Tarakan District, Tarakan City, North Kalimantan Province, with the object of the petition being the Decision of the General Election Commission (KPU) Number 360 of 2024.

In the trial, the petitioner argued that there had been an administrative violation of the General Election committed by a Legislative Candidate named Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra from the Golongan Karya (Golkar) Party. This was based on the Decision of the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) of Tarakan City Number 002/LP/ADM.PL/BWSL/KOTA/24.01/III/2024 dated March 19, 2024, concerning the alleged Administrative Violation of the Election with a ruling stating that Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra had committed a violation legitimately and convincingly and did not meet the requirements as a permanent candidate list member of the Tarakan City Regional People's Representative Council, Tarakan 1 Electoral District in the 2024 Election.

“One of the legislative candidates from Golkar, Erick Hendrawan Septian Putra, is involved in a criminal act that started and has not been 5 years. Bawaslu Tarakan has issued a decision regarding this matter which states three things: first, committing an Administrative Violation of the Election legitimately and convincingly; second, not meeting the requirements as a permanent candidate list member of the Tarakan City Regional People's Representative Council, Tarakan 1 Electoral District in the 2024 Election,” said the Petitioner's Attorney, Erpandi.

Even though there was a Bawaslu decision, according to the petitioner, the KPU did not pay attention to and implement the Bawaslu Decision by stipulating the results of the Election of DPRD Members of Tarakan City in 2024 through the Decree of the KPU of Tarakan City Number 87 of 2024.

“We have conveyed this to the KPU of Tarakan City, but based on the Decree of Tarakan City Number 87 of 2024, the Bawaslu Decision was not implemented, Your Honor,” said Erpandi.