The presidential election dispute hearing at the Constitutional Court took an unexpected turn on Thursday as one of the witnesses testified on the alleged involvement of local government heads in mobilizing votes for losing presidential ticket Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa in Papua. Nabire Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tagor Hutapea testified via video link that Dogiyai Regent Thomas Tigi had attempted to interfere with vote tabulation by persuading members of the District Election Committee (PPD) to rig the vote in favor of the Prabowo-Hatta ticket. “During that time, the Dogiyai General Elections Commission [KPUD] chairman, Didimus, told them [the PPD] that if they wanted money, then they could get it from the regent. But the votes must be diverted toward the Prabowo-Hatta ticket,” he said.
Tagor added that on the day before the vote tabulation in Dogiyai, the PPK officials declined to submit the election documents, including the C1 recapitulation forms, before their salaries were paid.
“[Then], on July 16, the assistant [to the regent] came to Dogiyai to meet with election organizers.”
During the meeting, it was agreed that the salary would be raised from Rp 150,000 (US$12.84) to Rp 250,000 per person.
On July 17, Thomas reportedly visited the KPUD headquarters to inform poll officials that they would need to rig the votes if they wanted to get paid. However, the plan backfired after the public got wind of the plan and became upset.
Full Article: Prabowo’s court move backfires | The Jakarta Post.