Camelia Pasandaran

Court Orders Election Rerun in South Nias District

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday ordered that elections be repeated in South Nias district in North Sumatra, casting doubt on legislative election results in the province and possibly at the national level.

The court ruled that vote rigging had occurred throughout the district during the vote-counting process for the South Nias Legislative Council, the North Sumatra Legislative Council and the House of Representatives (DPR).

Discrepancies were also discovered in the Regional Representatives Councils (DPD) in six subdistricts, with the court ruling that the subdistricts must also repeat the DPD elections.

The Democratic Party and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) were among the parties contesting the results.

Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud MD ruled that the General Elections Commission (KPU) had 90 days to hold the elections in the district again.

The court also ruled that elections in 37 subdistricts in Yahukimo district, Papua, also needed to be repeated, but for different reasons.

Due to the district’s geographical isolation, the KPU had failed to deliver the ballot papers on time and in keeping with local traditions, voters had come to a gentleman’s agreement on how the votes would be distributed.

“We’ll prepare the vote rerun as soon as possible,” said Abdul Hafiz Anshary, KPU chairman.

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