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The Petitioner’s attorneys at the preliminary hearing of the material judicial review of Law No. 15 of 2011 on Election Organizers, Tuesday (15/6/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 | 19:37 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The preliminary hearing of the material judicial review of Law No. 15 of 2011 on Election Organizers was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday afternoon, June 15, 2021. The petition No. 19/PUU-XIX/2021 was filed by Siti Warsilah.

At the hearing, the Petitioner’s legal team, Erwan Suryadi and colleagues, conveyed the substance of the petition on Article 21 letter j and Article 117 letter j of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections.

Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra as panel chair commented on the articles and laws that the Petitioner requested to review. He said that the petition presented at the hearing differed from that registered by the Registrar’s Office, which concerned Article 11 letter l and Article 85 letter l of the Election Organizer Law.

The change was confirmed by the Petitioner’s attorneys. Attorney Sri Harini admitted that the Election Organizer Law had been merged into the Election Law.

“It turns out that Law No. 15 of 2011 has been merged into Law No. 7 of 2017, so we will revise that,” she said.

Sri then explained the Petitioner’s arguments on the requirement to resign when running for a KPU or Bawaslu member while already in public office. “Meanwhile, when the Petitioner apply as a KPU or Bawaslu member, [she] could [pass or not]. If she doesn’t get it, she will stay a [state civil apparatus] but she will lose her public office, when occupying such a position again will require a process. That is why we request that the articles be reviewed in the Constitutional Court,” she said.

The Petitioner also asserted that her constitutional rights and/or authority for guaranteed protection and fair legal certainty and equality before the law pursuant to Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution had been harmed by the enactment of Article 11 letter l and Article 85 letter l of the Election Organizer Law, especially along the requirement to resign from a public office when applying for KPU or Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body).

She feels disadvantaged by the norm and argued that her constitutional impairment does not concern any restriction against applying, but would occur when applying, despite no guarantee of success. Although she would remain an ASN (state civil apparatus), the need to resign from her public office is detrimental to her.

Petition Withdrawn

The panel of justices recommended that the Petitioner withdraw her petition. Upon observation, the registered petition differed from that conveyed at the hearing, where the law being petitioned differed.

“We request that the Petitioner draw up a new petition following the recommendation that has been given so that the petition doesn’t become vague. [The new petition] will be re-registered,” Justice Saldi said.

The Petitioner’s legal team followed the recommendation and decided to withdraw the petition. 

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 6/17/2021 08:01 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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