Jakarta – Labour Party President Said Iqbal has denied involvement in the manipulation of the data of political parties wanting to contest the 2024 elections in Sangihe Island regency, North Sumatra, which is alleged to have been committed by the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Iqbal's statement was in response to testimony by Sangihe Island Regional General Elections Commission (KPUD) Commissioner Jeck Stephen Seba, who said that the day before a KPUD plenary meeting to determine which political parties could contest the elections, the Labour Party only had three members.
"No. There are no problems whatsoever with the Labour Party because the regency KPUD plenary meeting declared it MS (met the requirements) and the provincial KPUD also declared it MS", Iqbal told CNN Indonesia on Wednesday Februrary 15.
Iqbal does not believe that there was any manipulation in the verification process and that the KPU opened the entire verification process to the public. "The KPUD plenary session was open and nothing was concealed", he said.
Earlier, the Labour Party was cited during an ethics hearing on alleged manipulation of political party data. Seba said that there were sudden changes made to the number of members.
He said that on December 7, 2022, the Labour Party only had three members in Sangihe Island regency. A day later however, the number rose to 93 and the party was declared to have passed the factual verification.
"Verification was carried out, but the efforts of the political parties were only as good as that. We can explain that the three [Labor Party members] were just the chairperson, secretary and treasurer. No one else claimed to be a member", said Seba during a hearing at the Election Organisers Ethics Council (DKPP) office in Jakarta on Tuesday February 14. (dhf/tsa)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Partai Buruh Bantah Terlibat Dugaan Manipulasi Data Parpol dengan KPU".]
