Eri Cahyadi Thinks Machfud Arifin Sues Surabaya Pilkada At MK Not About Violation But Because Of Defeat

Eri Cahyadi winner of the Surabaya Pilkada (DOK. Instagram)

SURABAYA - The legal team for the Surabaya Mayor candidate pair Eri Cahyadi and Armudji (Erji) said Machfud Arifin and Mujiaman (Maju) sued the Surabaya Pilkada to the Constitutional Court (MK) not because of a violation. Machfud Arifin sued because he lost.

"Regarding the KPU recapitulation results, Machfud-Mujiaman has fully accepted it without any objection or complaint from the applicant. This acceptance occurs in stages starting at the TPS, Kelurahan, Subdistrict levels and until finally at the city level," said attorney Eri Cahyadi-Armuji Arif Budi Santoso. quoted Antara, Tuesday, February 1.

He said the Machfud-Mujiaman witnesses had received and signed all documents on the Minutes and Certificate of Recapitulation of Vote Count Results from each district to the city level. The official report on the counting of votes at the polling station (TPS) level was also signed.

"Everything was signed without notes and objections. We convey the evidence to the Constitutional Court," he said.

According to him, Machfud-Mujiaman filed a lawsuit just because he lost the Pilkada, not because there were mistakes or violations in the Pilkada process to the counting and recapitulation of votes, due to the fact that they were all signatures from the TPS to the city level.

Arif added that in the lawsuit against the Constitutional Court, Machfud-Mujiaman also never once argued that there was fraud or violations committed during the voting process, vote counting, and recapitulation of vote count results.

"So that there is no reason whatsoever not to say that the determination of the Recapitulation of Vote Count Results at the 2020 Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Surabaya Election by the respondent is correct and legitimate," he said.

In accordance with the results of the Surabaya KPU recapitulation in the 2020 Surabaya Pilkada, Eri-Armuji won 597,540 votes, while Machfud-Mujiaman had 451,794 votes, with a total of 1,049,334 valid votes.