Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto opening technical assistance program for the campaign teams of president/vice president candidates on Thursday (4/4) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. Photo by Humas MK.

BOGOR, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Aswanto stressed the need for understanding among stakeholders in 2019 Elections to ensure smooth proceedings. This was conveyed at the opening ceremony of technical assistance program for the campaign teams of president/vice president candidates on Thursday (4/4/2019) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. The participants were the National Campaign Team (TKN) for Candidate Pair 1 and the National Victory Agency (BPN) for Candidate Pair 2, as well as the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).

The technical assistance program, he said, is the Constitutional Court’s effort in educating stakeholders on the 2019 Elections because they might litigate at the Court.  “We would like to build an understanding in the procedure at the Court, so that we will not need to debate on technical issues during Court hearing,” he said before the 124 participants. Justice Aswanto believes that technical issues must be socialized so that at Court hearings, all parties involved can focus on substance of the case. He also stressed the importance of cooperation among stakeholders so that any issue can be solved through constitutional mechanism. The arguments made by the litigants must be sound and logical for the Court to grant the petition. The evidence submitted must be valid and has strong legal foundation. In addition, he stressed the Court’s neutrality and impartiality as well as professionalism to face future election dispute cases.

Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah also hoped that the technical assistance program will help smooth Court process. He said that the program had been held 39 times, and the current program was the 40^th. The program had had 6,000 alumni this year, and 28,000 alumni since it was first held. Guntur said that the Constitutional Court is the institution mandated with election dispute resolution, completing its duty as guardian of the Constitution and state ideology. (Arif Satriantoro/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)