Gelora Party denies alleged manipulation in election factual verification process

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CNN Indonesia – February 15, 2023
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Gelora Party leadership at national meeting in Jakarta – November 10, 2019 (Istimewa)
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Jakarta – The Indonesian People's Wave Party (Gelora) has refuted a statement by a North Sulawesi General Elections Commission (KPU) member on the manipulation of factual verification data on political parties wanting to contest the 2024 elections.

Gelora Party General Secretary Mahfudz Sidiq said that the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) has already declared that there was no fraud committed during the factual verification process.

"Bawaslu as the institution that has supervisory authority has already declared that it did not find evidence of [electoral] fraud or that sort of thing", Sidiq told CNN Indonesia on Wednesday February 15.

He also said he was suspicious about the moves by a group of people calling themselves the Civil Society Coalition. According to Sidiq, this group is taking advantage of the issue of election data manipulation for their own interests by taking the issue before the Election Organisers Ethics Council (DKPP).

"It's like after failing to target the party, now they are targeting the [election] organisers", said the former Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) politician.

Earlier, the Gelora Party was cited on several occasions during an ethics hearing on the alleged manipulation of factual verification data on political parties wishing to contest the 2024 elections.

North Sulawesi KPU Commissioner Yessy Momongan said that there were instructions from the national KPU office to pass the political party led by former PKS leader and Gelora Party founder Anies Matta.

Momongan claimed to have been contacted directly by KPU commissioners August Mellaz and Idham Holik who asked him to smooth the way for the planned manipulation.

"At the airport, the KPU national offices phoned to ask for cooperation because there was an instruction in the afternoon because there was a change in Gelora Party data from BMS (not yet eligible) to MS (met the requirements), both the management and membership", said Momongan during the hearing at the DKPP offices in Jakarta on Tuesday February 14. (dhf/kid)

Notes

According to a December 19, 2022 article in the Jakarta Post, the Gelora Party had its eligibility falsified because it is a rival of the PKS, having been formed following a split within the PKS in 2019. Likewise the National Populist Party (PKN) is likely to rival the Democrat Party as many of its members were drawn away from the Democrats. The PKS and the Democrats are not part of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's ruling coalition and position themselves as the parliamentary opposition. The Garuda Party meanwhile has been deeply involved in the judicial reviews filed against the Elections Law at the Constitutional Court, one of which resulted in allowing government ministers to run as election candidates.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Partai Gelora Bantah Manipulasi Verifikasi Faktual Pemilu 2024".]

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20230215204635-32-913605/partai-gelora-bantah-manipulasi-verifikasi-faktual-pemilu-2024

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