The Petitioners’ attorneys Victor Santoso Tandiasa and Yohanes Mahatma Pambudianto reading out the subject of revised petition in the judicial review hearing of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Monday (16/9) in the Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The revision judicial review hearing of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections was held by the Constitutional Court on Monday (16/9/2019). The Petitioners were represented by attorneys Victor Santoso Tandiasa and Yohanes Mahatma Pambudianto.

"In the Petitioners\\\' legal standing there is an additional notary deed containing the articles of association/bylaws of the Petitioners as an election monitoring body," Victor told the panel of justices led by Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra. 

Besides, in the petition, the Petitioners added Perludem\\\'s statement that the simultaneous elections in Indonesia were the most complicated election system in the world. In the petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Constitutional Court separate the implementation of the presidential election and the legislative election, meaning that the presidential election and legislative election should not be held simultaneously. 

The case No. 37/PUU-XVII/2019 was petitioned by seven Petitioners from various professions and legal entities, including election observers Arjuna, M. Faesal Zuhri, and Ronaldo Heinrich Herman. The Petitioners challenged Article 167 paragraph (3), which reads "Voting shall be conducted simultaneously on a holiday or a nationally-declared day off," and Article 347 paragraph (1), which reads "Election voting shall be conducted simultaneously."

When delivering the reason for the petition, Yohanes stated that the provision of Article 22E paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution on the implementation of elections should bring benefits to the people and should not harm the interests of the people, especially concerning human lives. He considered the 2019 Simultaneous Elections heavy and full of pressure, as the presidential/vice presidential election conflated with the election of legislative members. In fact, the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) recorded 544 election administrators died and 3,788 people fell ill. (Nano Tresna Arfana/NRA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti