Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra speaking at a book review by the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of Andalas University on Saturday (10/10) in Padang. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra delivered a keynote speech at the "National Virtual Gathering of Election Governance Masters Students” in a book review event of Sisi Lain Pilkada: Memahami Kontestasi Dari Sudut Praktis (“The Other Side of Local Elections: Understanding Contestation from a Practical Point of View”) by author Asrinaldi on Saturday morning, October 10, 2020. Since the book doesn’t talk about the practical side of dispute resolution in the Constitutional Court (MK), he expressed his hope that the book would explain other sides more comprehensively.

After reviewing the book, he explained the final stage of the regional head elections (pilkada) dispute resolution in the Constitutional Court. Article 22E of the 1945 Constitution doesn’t mention pilkada, which is regulated by the local governments. This led to the belief that general elections (pemilu) differ from pilkada when, he said, they do not, as both are direct elections.

He said that Article 24A of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that the Supreme Court (MA) is authorized to review regulations under laws at the cassation level, therefore pilkada dispute resolution was carried out by the Supreme Court at first. However, the Supreme Court objected as it would hinder its duties.

He added that the legislature must decide whether to force the Supreme Court to handle pilkada dispute resolution, to decide that the authority remains with the Constitutional Court, or to establish a special judicia body. He believed based on the Indonesian law, a special judicial body would be under the Supreme Court. However, until that happens, the Constitutional Court will continue exercising the authority that was mandated by the Constitution and the law.

Justice Saldi also said that pilkada dispute petitions to the Court should only be lodged as a last resort when one’s election depends on it. “The principle used in pemilu and pilkada dispute is the disputed votes, which determines the election winners,” he said. He believed that it would be difficult for pilkada contestants to prove their win with highly valid pieces of evidence when the General Elections Commission (KPU) has announced the vote recapitulation results. He hoped that election contestants can find it in their hearts to accept the results of the elections.

Writer: Utami Argawati
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/23/2020 22:59 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.