---

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra speaking at a national seminar by the Law Faculty of Sriwijaya University virtually, Saturday (21/11/2020). Photo by Humas MK/Bayu.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra spoke at a national webinar on “The Phenomenon of Increasing Sole Candidates in Pilkada in Indonesia” on Saturday morning, November 21, 2020. The event was organized by the Law Faculty of Sriwijaya University virtually.

There is no major difference in pilkada (regional head election) disputes with sole candidates from those with multiple candidates, Justice Saldi said. The difference lies in the petitioner for the empty column, i.e. verified election observers. “This is because nobody represents the empty column. So, election observers officially represent [it]. In the resolution of a [pilkada] dispute in Makassar when an empty column won, the relevant party was also an election observer,” he said before around 500 online participants.

Justice Saldi added that the Court has prepared for the upcoming pilkada disputes. First, it has provided training for those who would be involved in the cases. “We have organized and are organizing technical assistance programs with the KPU [General Elections Commission], Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Agency), political parties, and advocates,” he said.

Alternative Hearing Methods 

Justice Saldi revealed that the Court was still deciding whether to hold hearings for pilkada cases online or offline. Alternatives methods to offline hearings have been considered. The Court could hold offline hearings under strict health protocols. Meanwhile, online hearings would be difficult as pilkada disputes are concrete cases, unlike judicial review cases where norms of the law are reviewed.

“For example, if one of the [persons] has a different signature, [they] are then requested to place their signature before the justices. [The justices] would observe which among the forms have the closest signature. If the hearing is held online, that will be difficult to do. So, it’s still being decided,” he said.

In addition, the Court is also preparing so that there will be not much gathering of people when filing the petition. Justice Saldi aslo said that in terms of the threshold required of the cases, while Article 158 of Law No. 10 of 2016 still applies, it will do so differently, as the Court will adjudicate the cases first.

“After the petitioner file the petition with the evidence, the KPU conveys their answer at a hearing and the relevant party gave their statement, the justices will examine whether [the statements/arguments] are accurate or not. So, Article 158, used to apply in the beginning as part of the formal requirements, now applies in the middle [of the process,” he stressed.

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

Translation uploaded on 11/25/2020 16:15 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.

---