Chief Justice Anwar Usman and the other constitutional justices with Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah monitoring the preparedness of the 2018 PHP Kada task force teams at the Ground Floor Hall, Thursday (5/7). Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

In a press conference after monitoring the preparedness of the 2018 PHP Kada task force teams at the Ground Floor Hall of the Constitutional Court, Chief Justice Anwar Usman said that after the announcement of tally results of the 2018 simultaneous regional head election (Pilkada) on July 4, the Constitutional Court was ready to receive incoming petitions. He said that the Court had updated the petition reception system, which is different from that in the previous regional election.

He also explained that incoming Pilkada petitions will be recorded in the constitutional case registration book (BRPK) on July 23, 2018. The preliminary hearings will start on July 26. “As per existing regulation, the Constitutional Court must resolve all 2018 PHP Kada [cases] by September 26, 2018,” he said.

In response to a question about the victory of the empty column in several districts/municipalities, Justice Anwar said that it is already regulated in the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 6 of 2017 on the Procedural Law in Dispute Case over the Results of the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors with One Candidate Pair.

Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah said that petitioners can submit petitions online on the Court’s website, which will save time. “After registering the petition online, the petitioner can come to the Court and bring 4 copies of the petition,” he said.

First Petition 

At 10.14 WIB, the Court received the first 2018 PHP Kada petition from Mayoral Candidate Pair Number 5 of Tegal, Habib Ali-Tanty Prasetyoningrum. Attorney Budi Yuwono Alatas alleged election violations. His clients challenged the winner of the election, who led the polls by 316 votes or 0.02%. They also claimed there had been structured and massive violations, such as money politics, which had been reported to the Integrated Law Enforcement (Gakkumdu). (Lulu Anjarsari/Yuniar Widiastuti)