Constitutional Court Consistent in Resolving Regional Election Disputes
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Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Arief Hidayat in the panel discussion of the 2018 TNI-Police leaders meeting at TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, Jakarta, Wednesday (23/01). Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) and Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) must lead by example by showing consistency in giving indiscriminating treatment on regional election (pilkada) contestants and in executing programs and policies. This was conveyed by Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Arief Hidayat in the panel discussion of the 2018 TNI-Police leaders meeting at TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, Jakarta, Wednesday (23/01/2018).

Arief believed that the Government and the House should form a special judiciary to decide on pilkada, as the Constitutional Court is only temporarily tasked with the function. He stressed that the Constitutional Court has consistently been implementing Article 158 of the Pilkada  Law regarding the threshold for filing regional election dispute petition.

“If the process is erroneous, such as what happened in Papua, 10 [sub-]districts lost ballot boxes, so [the votes] could not be calculated. Where did [they] find a 2% margin? The votes have not been counted [entirely]. Therefore, the Constitutional Court passed an interlocutory injunction [ordering] a revote,” said the Diponegoro University Law Professor.

Justice Arief further explained that a new procedural law has currently existed to deal with pilkada violations. The system allows for money politic issues to be resolved by the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu), so that not all cases are resolved by the Constitutional Court. The Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) handles issues concerning election organizers, while inappropriate candidacy is the domain of the State Administrative Court (PTUN). The chief justice commended the KPU’s work in organizing pilkada in the last two years. He also thanked the Police Chief for keeping the safety of the Constitutional Court during pilkada dispute.

The discussion also presented KPU Chairman Arif Budiman, Bawaslu Chairman Abhan, National Police Chief M. Tito Karnavian, Junior Prosecutor on General Offense Noor Rahmad, and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Agus Raharjo. (Ilham/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)


Wednesday, January 24, 2018 | 19:15 WIB 163