The Petitioners’ attorney Fadli Ramadhanil in the revision hearing of the judicial review of the Regional 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 8 of 2015 on the Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors (Pilkada Law) was held by the Constitutional Court on Tuesday (3/12/2019). The panel of justices consisted of Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih (chairperson), with Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and Saldi Isra (panel members).

One of the attorneys of Petitioners of case No. 75/PUU-XVII/2019 Fadli Ramadhanil conveyed revision to the petition in accordance with the advice of the panel of justices at the previous session. "First, related to the complete clause of the article that we [petition]. Because this is an examination of Law Number 8 of 2015, Article 1 number 6, we included the complete clause in the petition, ‘Voters are residents who are at least 17 (seventeen) years old or are/were married, who are registered in the Election.’ We [petition] the phrase or ‘are/were married’ against the 1945 Constitution," he explained.

Petitioner II revised their legal standing. “We describe the revision on page 8, point 10. Petitioner II has made efforts such as training, assistance, education, and assessment for gender equality and justice and to protect women\'s rights, in order to achieve their institutional vision,” Fadli said.

This legal standing was accepted in case No. 20/PUU-XI/2013 on the judicial review of Article 56, Article 215 of Law Number 8 of 2012 on the Election of DPR, DPRD, and DPD Members against the 1945 Constitution. Secretary General of the Indonesian Women’s Coalition Dian Kartikasari acted on behalf of Petitioner II and the Court declared Petitioner II having legal standing in the case and granted the entire petition.

The Petitioners are the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) and the Indonesian Women\'s Coalition (KPI), represented by Perludem’s Executive Director Titi Anggraini (Petitioner I) and Secretary General of the Indonesian Women’s Coalition Dian Kartikasari (Petitioner II). They requested the review of Article 1 number 6 phrase "or are/were married" in Law No. 8 of 2015, which reads, "Voters are residents who are at least 17 (seventeen) years old or are/were married, who are registered in the Election."

The Petitioners argued that voter registration is one of the most important stages in an honest, fair election of regional heads. Justice reflected in voter registration is the same opportunity and no preferential treatment for every citizen registering as a voter, so they get the same opportunity to vote directly in the regional head election.

For the Petitioners, the condition "or are/were married" for election voters shows that marriage is seen as an indicator of maturity, therefore allowing married persons to vote. Article 7 paragraph (1) of Law No. 1974 on Marriage stipulates that the legal marriage age of men and women differ: 19 for men and 16 for women.

Following up on the Constitutional Court Decision No. 22/PUUXV/2017, Law No. 1974 on Marriage was amended so that the legal marriage age of men and women is now 19 years, as stipulated in Article 7 paragraph (1) of Law Number 16 of 2019 on the Amendment to Law No. 1974 on Marriage. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA)

Translated by: Yuniar Widiastuti