Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra chairing the virtual panel preliminary hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Wednesday (9/1/2021) in the plenary courtroom. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

---

Wednesday, September 1, 2021 | 20:11 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Two state civil apparatuses (ASNs) who reside in Jakarta filed a material judicial review petition regarding the mandatory resignation of ASNs who apply as election organizers in Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections. The petition No. 39/PUU-XIX/2021 was filed by Siti Warsilah and Evarini Uswatun Khasanah, who challenge Article 21 letter j and Article 117 letter j of the Election Law.

At the hearing chaired by Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra, counsel Waway Warsiman argued that the phrase “having resigned from any political positions, positions in governance, and/or state/region-owned enterprises upon registering as a candidate” in Article 21 letter j of the Election Law was contrary to Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution. The Petitioners believe the interpretation of Article 21 letter j and Article 117 letter j of the Election Law—that legal subjects who run as members of the central/ provincial/regency/city General Elections Commission (KPU) and the central/ provincial/regency/city Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), subdistrict/village Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), as well as polling stations (TPS) Supervisory Committee (Panwas) must resign from their government offices upon registering—constitutionally harmed or at least reduced the constitutional rights of the Petitioners.

“To the Petitioners, this loss is specific and actual, as they are ASNs who are supervisory officials. If they run as KPU/Bawaslu members, they must lose their offices and become staffs, while there is no guarantee that they will be selected. It means that even if they are not selected [as KPU/Bawaslu members] they must lose their offices in the government, while in order to occupy that same office they did before they resigned, they must go through a long process, which could lead to the office already being occupied by another ASN, said Waway virtually.

Another counsel, Sri Harini, said an ASN must resign from their office without losing their ASN status if they intend to occupy offices through election (House of Representatives/DPR, Regional Representatives Council/DPD, Regional Legislative Council/DPRD, and regional head election/pilkada) due to potential abuse of office and authority in the election, which hinders the exercise of their duty and office. The resignation applies not since they register but after they undergo verification process until they are declared a candidate.

Therefore, the a quo provision is harmful as the Petitioners as ASNs must lose their offices as supervisory officials in the selection of KPU members, when there is no guarantee that they will be selected.

Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court prioritize their petition before the KPU/Bawaslu commissioner election of 2022-2027 starts and declare the phrase “having resigned from any positions in governance upon registering as a candidate” in Article 21 letter j and Article 117 letter j of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding insofar as not interpreted as “having resigned from any positions in governance after being elected.”

Justices’ Advice

In response, Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh advised the Petitioners to revise the part about the Constitutional Court’s authority. “The Constitutional Court’s authority [has now been updated] in the latest Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK), while the petition still uses the old PMK,” he said. He also advised them to elaborate on the touchstones referred to in the petition.

Before concluding the hearing, Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra said that the Petitioners had 14 workdays to revise their petition. They are to submit the revised petition to the Registrar’s Office by Tuesday, September 14, 2021.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayuditha
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/6/2021 11:11 WIB

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

---