House Commission III member Habiburrokman giving a statement virtually at the judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Monday (7/12/2020) in the Plenary Courtroom of the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ilham.
JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The simultaneity of the elections in the General Election Law follows up on the Constitutional Court Decision No. 14/PUU-XI/2013, which based in on three key things--strengthening the presidential system, interpretation of the Constitution, and for budget efficiency—said House (DPR) Commission III member Habiburrokhman virtually at judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections on Monday, December 7, 2020 in the plenary courtroom.
The case No. 55/PUU-XVIII/2020 was filed by chairman of the central executive board (DPP) of the Change Movement Party of Indonesia (Garuda) Ahmad Ridha Sabana and secretary general Abdullah Mansuri. They challenge Article 173 paragraph (2) of the Election Law.
Habiburrokhman said following the principle of consensus on which the simultaneity of the elections was based, the legislature formulated that Article 173 paragraphs (1) and (3) of the Election Law no longer determining the contesting political parties based on the threshold of valid national votes in the previous election. He admitted that the provision on the verification of political parties in Article 173 of the Election Law differs from that in Article 8 paragraph (1) on the Legislative Election, which has been decided by the Court in case No. 52/PUU-X/2012.
Article 8 paragraph (1) on the Legislative Election states that political parties contesting in the last election that meets the threshold of valid national votes are eligible for the next election. This differs from Article 173 of the Election Law that only requires political parties to reach a threshold in the seat allocation for DPR members. Meanwhile, Article 173 paragraph (2) of the Election Law echoes the requirements for establishing a political party stipulated in Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties, as amended by Law No. 22 of 2011 on Political Parties.
“If a political party is recognized by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, it means almost all requirements in Article 173 paragraph (2) of the Election Law have been met. Therefore, all political parties that meet the establishment requirements set by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights should automatically be eligible to contest in the elections without any threshold requirement,” Habiburrokhman said at the virtual hearing presided over by Chief Justice Anwar Usman and the other eight constitutional justices.
Budget and Verification
The House received election budget from the General Elections Commission (KPU), which was based on the budget spent for the 2019 general election. Habiburrokhman said a high budget is needed for factual verification of political parties. Therefore, the legislature decided not to re-verify parties that have been verified in order to save budget and following the a quo norm. They formed a norm on the basis of justice, usefulness, and certainty.
“Therefore, the legislature deemed a verification process could not be based on the provision regulating the registration and certification of political parties as election contestants. This complied with the construction and interpretation built in implementing regulations issued by the KPU: the KPU Regulation No. 6 of 2018 on the Registration, Verification, and Certification of Political Parties Contesting in the Election of DPR, DPRD. It regulates how the completeness and validity of documents by political parties that will contest in the election be verified,” Habiburrokhman explained.
Currently, he said, political parties are verified with simple random sampling or a census that is not all-encompassing, unlike how verification should be implemented. This is because the legislature decided that the election budget better be spent on more pressing issues.
“This is because the verification of political parties needs a very high budget, which is against one of the bases for the simultaneous elections that were mandated by the Constitutional Court Decision No. 14/PUU-XI/2013,” he stressed.
Also read: Garuda Party Challenges Reverification of Election Contesting Parties
Administrative Requirement
Ministerial expert staff for Apparatus and Public Services Yusharto Kuntoyono said on behalf the Government that the provisions in the Election Law mean that all political parties to contest in the election must register and be verified, otherwise they will violate the administrative requirements as they must refer to the election principles of independence, honesty, fairness, legal certainty, orderliness, transparency, proportionality, professionality, accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness. Verification of the office, structure, and membership of political parties makes it easier for the KPU to communicate with them at the central and regional levels.
“When a political party doesn’t have representation in the DPR, provincial DPRD, and regency/city DPRD, their activities cease post-election and resume only in the next election. Therefore, prior to the election, all political parties must be verified, both those that were eligible in the previous election and new ones,” Yusharto explained.
Public Trust
Yusharto added that party verification follows the Constitutional Court decision and the law. When political parties are verified, their structure, number of women functionaries (at least 30%), and office address are checked by the KPU. Such an efficient verification follows statutory laws and regulations.
“Parties contesting in the election are those that have qualification and competency based on requirements used as an indicator of public trust in those parties. In principle, to all parties that contest in the election, both old and new, verification is absolutely required,” he stressed.
Before concluding the hearing, Justice Anwar said that as the hearing was the last one before the ruling hearing, the concluding statement of the Petitioner’s expert must be submitted no later than Wednesday, December 16, 2020 at 13:30 WIB to the Registrar’s Office.
Also read: Garuda Party Affirms Legal Standing in Judicial Review of Election Law
The petition was filed by the Change Movement Party of Indonesia (Garuda) through chairman of the central executive board (DPP) Ahmad Ridha Sabana and secretary general Abdullah Mansuri. In the petition, the Petitioner stated that re-verification is against the principle of legality, fair legal certainty, and special treatment to receive opportunity and benefit from the previous verification. The Petitioner had contested in the previous election and fulfilled the conditions required in Article 173 paragraph (2) of the Election Law after a long, costly process.
Political parties ideally serve to benefit the people. The Petitioner believes that re-verification is in violation of that objective. They believe that verification is confirmation of that a political party has met the requirements, and as such it applies for it in the next election.
The Petitioner argued that re-verification of contesting parties in every election is against administrative customs in Indonesia, is not regulated in the 1945 Constitution, and doesn’t fulfill the constitutional rights of the contesting parties. Based on the above argument, in its petitum the Garuda party requested that the Constitutional Court declare Article 173 paragraph (1) of the Election Law conditionally constitutional and not legally binding under the interpretation that “The parties that have passed verification for the 2019 Election are re-verified for the following elections.”
Writer: Sri Pujianti.
Editor: Nur R.
PR: Andhini S. F.
Translator: Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 12/11/2020 11:26 WIB
Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case where any differences occur between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.
Tuesday, December 08, 2020 | 15:10 WIB 320