Jakarta. Two elected lawmakers from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will not be inaugurated next month after an internal investigation found them guilty of election fraud, a party official said on Thursday.

Tia Rahmania from Banten and Rahmad Handoyo from Central Java will be replaced by fellow PDI-P candidates during the swearing-in of House of Representatives members.

Both lawmakers were found to have manipulated vote counts in their respective electoral districts to illegally secure their victories, according to Djarot Saiful Hidayat, head of the PDI-P’s ideology and membership division.

The investigation followed complaints regarding irregularities in the vote-counting process.

“Both members were summoned by the party’s ethics council after we received over 100 reports about discrepancies in the vote counts,” Djarot told reporters in Jakarta.

According to the findings, Tia and Rahmad falsified vote tallies to favor themselves, following a recount based on official documents from the General Election Commission (KPU), which recorded the certified results from each polling station.

The ethics council, led by former Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly, presented the investigation results to the PDI-P leadership, which decided to revoke Tia and Rahmad’s seats.

“This was not an instant decision -- it was made after careful consideration,” Djarot said.

The KPU has accepted the PDI-P’s internal ruling, appointing Didik Haryadi to replace Rahmad and Bonnie Triyana as the new representative for Banten in place of Tia.

Tia had initially secured her seat with 37,386 votes, but after the investigation and recount, her total fell to 35,760. Bonnie, who will now take her place, had received 36,504 votes in Banten.

Both Tia and Rahmad have been dismissed from the PDI-P following the decision.

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