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The Constitutional Court signing a memorandum of understanding with Moch. Sroedji University on improving citizens’ understanding of constitutional rights and quality of higher law education. Photo by Humas MK.

JEMBER, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—One of the efforts to improve the quality of democracy is through optimizing the elections. Meanwhile, one form of control to ensure that the elections are carried out properly is through the resolution of election disputes.

This was conveyed by Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams as a guest speaker in a public lecture under the theme "The Resolution of Election Results Disputes in the Constitutional Court." The event took place on Thursday (21/11/2019) at Moch. Sroedji University, Jember, East Java.

"It can\'t be denied that every [election] always leads to problems. These problems can be classified into three categories” (1) administrative violations, (2) criminal acts, and (3) disputes over vote counting results," he explained before the participants.

Justice Wahiduddin said that the Constitutional Court’s authority to settle election disputes is crucial as it decides the people’s political choice that will be represented by the parliament and the government. He explained that election disputes are constitutional cases in several countries such as the United States. The Bush v. Gore case on the 2000 U.S. election is one of the examples.

"In Indonesia, the mechanism based on the 1945 Constitution is to give authority to decide upon disputes over the results of general elections to the Constitutional Court. The decision of the Constitutional Court is final and binding, including [in] disputes over the results of general elections. The Constitutional Court, which is held up as the guardian of the Constitution, was deemed appropriate for resolving disputes over the results of general elections," he explained.

In exercising this authority, the Constitutional Court must ensure that the right to be elected and to vote in elections is upheld and the citizens\' constitutional rights must be protected.

"One vote by a citizen in an election is crucial. The tendency to use the word margin in the authority of the Constitutional Court is in the sense of \'not much margin or abnormality\' because it relates to the final results of the vote count results. Thus, to ensure the protection of the voting rights granted to Indonesian citizens, the Constitutional Court adjudicates disputed election results, " he explained.

Justice Wahiduddin also said that Indonesian people have good social capital. "I am sure our diversity will be maintained without division and fragments because of the elections. This social capital will strengthen our unity as a nation," he said.

The Constitutional Court also signed a memorandum of understanding with Moch. Sroedji University on improving citizens’ understanding of constitutional rights and quality of higher law education. Head of the Legal and Registrar Administration Bureau Wiryanto said that through the signing, the Constitutional Court as guardian of the constitution and democracy shows a strong commitment and intention to invite all state components, including universities, to contribute, synergize, and collaborate to realize upholding the constitutional rights of citizens as desired and guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution. (Lulu Anjarsari)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti

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