Petitioner Ignatius Supriyadi explaining petition revision in the second judicial review hearing Article 416 paragraph (1) 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 Constitutional Court (MK) held the second material review of Article 416 paragraph (1) of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Monday (16/9/2019) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. The Case No. 39/PUU-XVII/2019 was petitioned by advocates Ignatius Supriyadi, Antonius Cahyadi, and Gregorius Yonathan Deowikaputra,

In this session, Ignatius representing the Petitioners stated that they affirmed points related to their constitutional rights in relation to several articles in the 1945 Constitution, such as Article 28D paragraph (1). He said that there would be legal uncertainty if election followed by only two candidate pairs must meet the requirements specified in Article 416 paragraph (1) of the Election Law, while the candidate pairs do not meet the requirements and when the day the election is declared as a national holiday. 

"We advocates have jobs and if [the election days were declared as holidays] our constitutional rights related to the legal certainty would be harmed," Ignatius said before the bench consisting of chairman by Chief Justice Anwar Usman and Constitutional Justices Wahiduddin Adams and Manahan M. P. Sitompul. 

In addition, related to the right to life and physical prosperity based on Article 28H paragraph (1), according to the Petitioners the 2019 Elections had resulted in intense polarization in the community which could result in national discord. The Petitioners felt that the 2019 Elections were very energy-intensive, which had caused concern for them. 

According to the Petitioners, Article 416 paragraph (1) of the Election Law reads exactly the same as Article 159 paragraph (1) of Law Number 42 of 2008 concerning the Election of President and Vice President (Presidential Election Law), which has been declared conditionally constitutional through Constitutional Court Decision No. 50/PUU-XVII/2014. The a quo norm reads, “The elected Candidate Pair is the Candidate Pair that receives more than 50% (fifty percent) of the votes in the Presidential and Vice President Elections with at least 20% (twenty percent) of votes in each province spread over more than 1/2 (half) the number of provinces in Indonesia.” This provision can cause confusion in the community with information circulating that the elected presidential and vice presidential candidate pair cannot be inaugurated if they do not meet the provision in Article 416 paragraph (1) of the Election Law, even though only two candidate pairs contested in the 2019 Presidential Election. (Sri Pujianti/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti