Still A US Citizen, The Victory Of The Elected Regent Sabu Raijua Can Be Canceled

Illustrated / VOI

JAKARTA - The victory of Orient Riwu Kore as the elected regent of Sabu Raijua, East Nusa Tenggara can be canceled. This follows the status of the Orient, which he says is still a citizen of the United States (US).

This was conveyed by a political observer in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Jhon Tuba Helan. According to him, the cancellation mechanism exists and is regulated in Law No.10 / 2016, the amendment to the Pilkada Law is absolute.

Even after being inaugurated it can also be canceled because, a regional head cannot be a foreign citizen who has been clearly regulated by law.

"The Pilkada Law clearly states that the candidates for regional head, deputy regent, mayor and deputy mayor are Indonesian citizens who meet the requirements. So it is clear that those who can become regional heads are Indonesian citizens," said Jhon as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, February 3.

Jhon also added that because he did not qualify as a foreigner, the votes he obtained did not meet the requirements. And it must be annulled because this is related to the principle so that it must not be neglected.

According to Jhon, who is also a lecturer in Constitutional Law at the University of Nusa Cendana Kupang, Orient should realize that he is still a US citizen and if he wants to participate in the regional election, he must first change his citizenship status.

Jhon also considered that the first mistake was of course the elected regent who knew and wanted to register to participate in the regional elections in Sabu Raijua.

In addition, Jhon also considered that the incident that occurred in Sabu Raijua was also evidence of the inaccuracy of the election organizers, namely the General Election Commission (KPU) and also the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) which later passed a US citizen into the elections in Sabu Raijua.

Meanwhile the Head of Bawaslu Sabu Raijua Yugi Tagi Huma said that in fact from the beginning this case had been investigated by them and had even warned KPU Sabu Raijua.

In fact, his party also sent a letter to the US Embassy asking for the nationality of Orient. The letter has been sent since early January but only received a reply from the embassy after the election winner was determined in Sabu Raijua.

"The letter was received yesterday and we immediately opened it and the embassy confirmed that he was still a US citizen," he added.