---

Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo delivering a presentation on the Technical Assistance Program on the Procedural Law of the 2019 Elections Results Dispute (PHPU) Resolution for KPU Class II on Saturday (7/10) at Graha Konstitusi 3 at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. Photo by Humas MK/A. Sumarna.

Head of the General Affairs Department of the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center Imam Margono officially closed the Technical Assistance Program on the Procedural Law of the 2019 Elections Results Dispute (PHPU) Resolution for KPU Class II on Saturday (7/10/2018) at Graha Konstitusi 3 at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor.

In his closing address, Imam said that as mandated by the 1945 Constitution, the Constitutional Court is authorized to resolve general election dispute cases as guardian of democracy. The future resolution of the 2019 simultaneous election dispute cases needs concrete support from stakeholders. Therefore, the technical assistance program is a means for the Court to improve understanding of the procedural law at the Constitutional Court, which will be needed by the General Elections Commission (KPU), who will be Respondent in the 2019 PHPU cases. This will help the Court be a judiciary that will be able to offer justice.

Imam hoped that participants will be able to disseminate the lessons that they have learned to fellow KPU members who could not participate in the program. Before closing the hearing, he presented prizes for best participants: Ramdan of West Kalimantan Provincial KPU, Minarto of Gresik District KPU, and Pratama Adinagara of Mataram Municipal KPU. 

Simple Majority

In October 4-6, 2018, the 150 technical assistance participants received various materials on the 2019 PHPU resolution. KPU Commissioner Hasyim Asyari in his presentation on “The Legal Framework of the 2019 Elections” elaborated on the evaluation of past elections as well as the KPU’s efforts as an election organizer to prepare for the upcoming elections. He observed that the 2019 elections are different in terms of devisor in the vote count of the winning candidates, which is majority and plurality. He added that in the 2019 elections, the KPU will use plurality or simple majority where the winning candidate pair is the pair that receives the most votes, not necessarily over 50% of the votes.

“During recapitulation starting from the polling stations (TPS), the KPPS officials must be aware that the calculation uses the simple majority,” he said on Friday (5/10/2018) at Graha Konstitusi 3 at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor.

Vulnerability Index

Legal Division Coordinator of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) Fritz Edward Siregar in his presentation on “The Problems and Resolution of the 2019 Elections Dispute” elaborated on the vulnerability indexes on the elections since 2004 to 2017 in Indonesia. The vulnerability index is all things that could potentially hinder the elections.

Fritz said that Bawaslu made three categories of electoral vulnerability index: election resolution that is honest and fair, contestation, and political party dimensions. For the 2019 elections, Bawaslu added one more dimension: socio-politics. This dimension covers issues arising in the interclass relationships among Indonesian citizens, such as issues of the majority and minority groups.

KPU’s Position

Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo in his presentation on “The Procedural Law of the Constitutional Court” stressed the KPU’s Position as Respondent, whose statement is the initial step for the Court to follow up on the Petitioner’s petition. Meanwhile, Junior Registrar I Muhidin in his presentation on “The Mechanism, Stages, and Activities of the 2019 PHPU Resolution” explained the variations in the filing of PHPU petitions at the Constitutional in 2004-2014.

After listening to the presentations, on Saturday (6/10/2018), participants practice drafting a petition, facilitated by staff of the Court’s Registrar’s Office. At the end of the program, participants were presented with alumni pins, certificates, and copies of the materials. (Sri Pujianti/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)

---