The Petitioner’s attorney Munathsir Mustaman (right) reading out the points of the petition revision in the judicial review hearing of the Election Law, Tuesday (3/12) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Gani.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The revision hearing of the judicial review of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections petitioned by the central executive board (DPP) of the Change Movement Party of Indonesia (Garuda) was held by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday (3/12/2019). The hearing for case No. 74/PUU-XVII/2019 was presided over by Constitutional Justices Enny Nurbaningsih (chairperson), Aswanto, and Manahan M. P. Sitompul (panel members).

Attorney Munathsir Mustaman conveyed several points of revision. “We have completed some of the articles. In the subject of the petition, we added several points. We also completed the legal standing and [submitted] additional evidence P-10 through P-12,” he explained.

The Petitioner requested that the Court examine and grant the entire judicial review petition of Article 173 paragraph (1) of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections, and declare it conditionally constitutional and not legally binding insofar as not interpreted as parties passing the 2019 Elections verification are not verified in subsequent elections.

The Petitioner has fulfilled the electoral requirements as stipulated in Article 173 paragraph (2) of the Election Law: a. possessing the status of legal entity as referred to in the Law on Political Parties; b. having regional chapters in all provinces; c. having chapters in 75% (seventy five percent) of the total number of regencies/cities in the province; d. having chapters in 50% (fifty percent) of the total number of sub-districts/kecamatan in the regency/city; e. accommodating at least 30% (thirty percent) women’s representation in the management of the central chapter of the political party; f. having a minimum of 1000 (one thousand) members or 1/1.000 (one thousandth) of the total Population for each chapter of political party as referred to in letter c, which is proven by the ownership of the membership card; g. having permanent offices for the chapters on the central, provincial, and regency/city levels until the final stage of the Election; h. proposing the name, symbol, and logo of the political party to KPU; and i. providing the account number for campaign financing bearing the name of the political party to KPU.

The Petitioner had spent a lot of money and energy for the election and therefore feels entitled to take part in the 2019 General Elections that were held after the Election Law had been ratified and in subsequent elections.

In principle, according to the Petitioner, all laws were made not for a certain period of time. Likewise, the Election Law was made not only for the 2019 Elections, but for an indefinite period since the ratification of the law.

"The provisions of Article 173 paragraph (1) of the Election Law have the potential to be interpreted that the verification results only apply to the 2019 General Elections. This is because there is no clear and firm explanation whether the verification results do not only apply to the 2019 General Elections, but also to subsequent general elections. If the potential misinterpretation really occurs, members of the Petitioner will lose their right to participate in government as regulated in Article 28D paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution," Munathsir said. (Nano Tresna Arfana/NRA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti