Revision hearing of judicial review of the General Elections Law, on Wednesday (28/3) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

A judicial review session on the parliamentary threshold (PT) proposed by the Gerakan Perubahan Indonesia (Garuda) Party was held again by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Wednesday (28/3). The hearing of case No. 20/PUU-XVI/2018 was to hear the petition revision.

The Petitioner\'s attorney Maulana Bungaran explained the revisions he made. One of them was the addition of an excerpt of the party\'s statute/bylaws that details the authority of the chairman and secretary general in representing the party. "We also revised the petitum according to the advice of Justice Maria Farida Indrati and the verdict of case No. 3 of 2009," he explained in the session presided over by Constitutional Justice Aswanto.

The Petitioner felt harmed by the enactment of Article 414 paragraph 1 of Law No. 7/2017 on General Elections. Article 414 paragraph 1 of the General Elections Law reads, "The political parties participating in the elections shall meet a threshold of at least four percent of the total valid national votes to be included in the determination of the seats of members of the People\'s Legislative Assembly."

The Petitioners claimed that the enactment of Article 414 paragraph 1 of the Elections Law may result in the loss of the right to obtain seats at the House. Especially if the votes for the Petitioners in certain Electoral Regions are eligible for a seat at the House, but the votes for the Petitioner at the House as a whole do not meet the parliament threshold.

The Petitioner also explained that based on the provision of Article 22E paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, every political party participating in the 2019 General Elections including the Petitioner has the right to contest over the House seats. However, the right to contest will be lost if the national votes of the Petitioner do not meet the threshold. That may occur even if the Petitioner’s votes in certain electoral regions are eligible for a seat at the House.

In addition, the Petitioner explained the concept of simplification of political parties cannot be done blindly, but must be within the framework of justice. That is, he added, the concept of simplification of political parties should not cause unfair conditions for anyone. (ARS/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)