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Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto speaking at the technical assistance program on the 2020 election of governors, regents, and mayors for political parties virtually, Wednesday (21/10/2020) from the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional justices and other Court staff members spoke virtually at the technical assistance program on the 2020 election of governors, regents, and mayors for political parties, which was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) at the Constitutional Court's Pancasila and Constitution Education Center in Cisarua, Bogor on Wednesday, October 21, 2020.

On this second day, Constitutional Justices Wahiduddin Adams and Saldi Isra talked about “The Procedural Law on the Disputes over the 2020 Elections of Governors, Regents, and Mayors.” Justice Wahiduddin said that the Constitutional Court had prepared the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 4 and 5 of 2020 on the resolution of regional head elections (pilkada) disputes. Prior to every pilkada, the Court revises its PMK.

“The Court replaced [its regulations] for the smooth running [of pilkada dispute resolution]. So, the old ones no longer apply. They are our parameters in pilkada dispute resolution,” Justice Wahiduddin explained.

He added that pilkada contestants are governor-vice governor, regency-vice regent, mayor-deputy mayor candidate tickets. In the 2020 pilkada, election observers that are registered with and accredited by the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) can apply to be relevant parties as long as the have direct interest in the petitioners’ petitions.

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra explained that the Court intended to reduce the number of cases from the start by stipulating that petition can only be registered once. “Once a case is registered, there cannot be any addition,” he said.

Justice Saldi said that the petitioners can make revisions and additions in the revision period, but this can only be done once. Any other change will be conveyed in the preliminary hearing before a panel of three justices. This means that the Court didn’t eliminate the petitioners’ right to revise their petition.

Vote Margin Threshold 

The provision regarding threshold in Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2016 on Pilkada is not included in the PMK because the Court would assess the article in the process, Justice Saldi said. PMK regulates matters that the law doesn’t. “If the petitioner argued with Article 158 that the threshold is not met, the Court will first prove [the claim]. Stakeholders including the relevant parties and Bawaslu will testify and there will be evidence in the dossiers,” he explained.

The Court will rule on the case after a panel of justices examines the petition. The results of the examination will be forwarded to a plenary meeting attended by the nine justices. Therefore, all the nine constitutional justices participate in the ruling.

Mechanism of Pilkada Dispute Resolution

In the next session, Deputy Registrar II Wiryanto talked about “The Mechanism, Stages, Activities, and Schedule of the Dispute Resolution of the Results of the 2020 Election of Governors, Regents, and Mayors.” “The announcement of the assessment over the completeness and the revision of the petitioner’s petition is followed by the registration on the petition in the e-BRPK [electronic constitutional case registration book],” he said.

He added that the copies of the petition are then sent to the respondent and Bawaslu. The application by the relevant party is accepted and the schedule for the hearing is announced to al litigants. The proceedings start with a preliminary hearing, evidentiary hearings, and the justice deliberation meeting. The ruling is then pronounced and the copies of the decision is distributed.

Vote Margin

Substitute Registrar Syukri Asy’ari talked about “The Techniques of Drafting the Petitioner’s Petition and the Statement of the Relevant Party in the Dispute of the 2020 Elections of Governors, Regents, and Mayors.” He said that the sole object of the pilkada petition is the vote count results announced by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

He stressed that the deadline to register the petition remains unchanged, i.e. 3 days after the votes are announced, as it is regulated by law. “[The petition] can be submitted to the Court online 24 hours [a day]. Since the beginning of pilkada, this provision hasn’t changed,” he said.

Constitutional Court’s Authorities

The second day of the program was concluded with the presentation on “The Constitutional Court in the Indonesian Administration System” by Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto. He said that the Constitutional Court assesses whether a norm in laws are in line with the norms in the Constitution. “Our rights that are guaranteed by statutory laws shouldn’t be negated by any law,” he said.

He explained that the Court has four authorities and one obligation: examining laws against the 1945 Constitution, deciding on authority disputes among state institutions, deciding on the dissolution of political parties, and deciding on disputes over general election results. The Court has never ruled on the dissolution of political parties, which should be initiated by the government. “The 1945 Constitution emphasizes that the general elections are the legislative and presidential elections,” he added. He also said that the Court is also obligated to decide on the House’s opinion on an alleged violation of law committed by the president and/or vice president.

The program took will take place for three days on Tuesday-Thursday, October 20-22, 2020 for various political parties. Some 398 participants attended the program—384 online and 14 in person at the Constitutional Court's Pancasila and Constitution Education Center in Cisarua, Bogor. Constitutional justices, substitute registrars, and IT staff explained the procedural law in the Constitutional Court on pilkada dispute resolution.

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

Translation uploaded on 10/30/2020 22:06 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.

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