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The Petitioner\'s attorney Veri Junaidi delivering the subjects of petition of the judicial review of Regional Head Election (Pilkada Law), Tuesday (17/9) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ganie.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Different nomenclatures of the nature of regency/city election supervisory committee in Law No. 10 of 2016 on the Regional Head Election (Pilkada Law) and Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) was considered violating the constitutional rights of the regency/city election supervisory committee. Several provincial Bawaslu chairpersons submitted material judicial review petition of Article 1 number 17, Article 23 paragraphs (1) and (3), and Article 24 of the Regional Election Law related to those different nomenclatures.

Article 1 number 17 of the Regional Election Law

"Regency/City Election Supervisory Committee, hereinafter referred to as Regency/City Panwas, is a committee formed by the Provincial Bawaslu whose duty is to oversee the implementation of election in the regency/city."

Article 23 paragraph (1) of the Regional Election Law

"(1) Supervision of the election is carried out by the Provincial Bawaslu, Regency/City Panwas, Subdistrict Panwas, PPL, and Polling Station (TPS) Supervisor."

Article 23 paragraph (3) of the Regional Election Law

"(3) the Provincial Bawaslu, Regency/City Panwas, and Subdistrict Panwas shall consist of 3 (three) persons each."

Article 24 of the Regional Election Law 

(1) Regency/City Panwas shall be formed no later than 1 (one) month before the preparatory stage for the implementation of the Election begins and shall be dissolved no later than 2 (two) months after all stages of the implementation of the Election are complete.

(2) Regency/City Panwas shall be formed and determined by the Provincial Bawaslu.

(3) The determination of members of Regency/City Panwas as referred to in paragraph (2) shall be carried out after selection by the Provincial Bawaslu.

Veri Junaidi was appointed to represent the chairperson of West Sumatra Province Bawaslu Surya Efitrimen, chairperson of Makassar City Bawaslu Nursari, and member of Ponorogo Regency Bawaslu Sulung Muna Rimbawan as Petitioners of case No. 48/PUU-XVII/2019. In the preliminary hearing on Tuesday (17/9/2019), Veri mentioned that the articles tested threatened the position of the Petitioner as the organizer of the election in carrying out his duties and mandates. 

"Factually, the a quo articles can threaten the Petitioners\' position as election organizers. The Petitioners potentially may not be able to carry out the oversight function of the implementation of regional head election because the institutional design required by the a quo law is that the RI/Provincial Bawaslu forms an institution called the voters supervisory committee (panwaslih) which is new and institutionally different from the Regency/City Bawaslu, which is permanent based on the Election Law," said Veri before the bench led by the Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto. 

In addition, the Petitioner argued that the institutional design of regional head election organizers, especially in the oversight function, was an additional task and authority of the national and provincial Bawaslu as election organizers. The Pilkada Law requires the formation of supervisors at the regency and city level to form an election supervisory committee (Panwas) whose position is temporary. 

"A contrario, compared to Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, which designs institutional oversight of General Elections at the regency/city level permanently, of course the norm in the Law being petitioned for review have regressed and is not in accordance with the general election principles that are applies universally," Veri explained. 

Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Constitutional Court declare the phrase "Regency/City Panwas" in the a quo articles be interpreted as Regency/City Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). 

Issue of Number of Member 

The Petitioners also feel disadvantaged related to the number of Bawaslu members as stipulated in Article 23 paragraph (3) of the Pilkada Law, at only three people. The Petitioners argued that in the 2019 Simultaneous Elections the members of the Provincial/Regency/City Bawaslu were five people. The reduction was deemed contrary to the principle of fair legal certainty. 

"This potentially eliminates the constitutional rights of the Petitioners, who have been appointed as commissioners of the Provincial Bawaslu and Regency/City Bawaslu in accordance with Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections," said Veri. 

Therefore, the Petitioners requested that the Constitutional Court declare the phrase "each consisting of 3 (three) persons" constitutionally conditionals insofar as it be interpreted as the number of Provincial/Regency/City Bawaslu members to follow the Election Law.

Advice for Petition Revision

Responding to the petition, Constitutional Justice I Dewa Gede Palguna provided suggestions for the petition. He asked the Petitioners to reconsider whether the regional election was part of general election or not. "If it is […], then the Petitioners\' petition has rationality because there must be a harmonization between the two types of the same tasks," he said.

Deputy Chief Constitutional Justice Aswanto requested that the Petitioners elaborate further on their legal losses. According to him, the Petitioners\' legal loss was not clearly seen in the petition. In addition, he requested that the Petitioners elaborate on the articles related to membership of the Regency/City Bawaslu.

The Petitioners were given 14 working days by the justices to revise the petition. The revised petition is to be submitted by September 30, 2019 at 10:00 WIB. (Lulu Anjarsari/NRA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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