Chief Justice Anwar Usman reading out the verdict of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections for case No. 44/PUU-XIX/2021, Wednesday (9/29/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W.M.

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Wednesday, September 29, 2021 | 23:41 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled the judicial review petition of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections inadmissible at the ruling hearing of case No. 44/PUU-XIX/2021 on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. The petition was filed by chairman and treasurer of the NGO Rumah Rakyat (Rura) Martondi and Naloanda as well as private employee M. Gontar Lubis and entrepreneur Muhammad Yasid (Petitioners I-IV).

Reading out the Court’s considerations, Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra said that the Petitioners tended to refer to the Constitutional Court Decision No. 102/PUU-VII/2009 that to elaborate the unconstitutionality of Article 223 paragraph (1) of the Election Law. The Petitioners may quote previous decisions by the Court as long as they are relevant to the current petition.

“However, the Petitioners must explain the contradiction between the norm petitioned and the 1945 Constitution. This is explicitly regulated in Article 10 paragraph (2) letter b point 3 of the [Constitutional Court Regulation/PMK] No. 2 of 2021,” Justice Saldi said at the plenary hearing chaired by Chief Justice Anwar Usman in the plenary courtroom.

In addition, the Petitioners had admitted in the petition that the right to nominate presidential tickets belongs to political parties. Nevertheless, they questioned the mechanism of determination of presidential tickets by political parties as stipulated by Article 223 paragraph (1). The petition and the petitum, thus, were rendered obscure and unusual. In the petitum, the Petitioners did not clarify what they requested, nor did they request that the Court declare the norm conditionally constitutional, Justice Saldi said.

“Formally, such a petitum does not reflect the provision of Article 10 paragraph (2) letter d of PMK No. 2 of 2021. The Court believes the Petitioners petition to be vague or obscure. therefore, the Court did not consider the Petitioners’ legal standing and the subject matter of the petition,” he said.

Also read: 

Provision on Mandatory Party-Backed Presidential Tickets Challenged

Petitioners of Provision on Presidential Ticket Affirm Article to Review 

The Petitioners believe that as citizens they have the constitutional right to elect and be elected in general elections, including in presidential elections. However, the norm stipulates that the constitutional right to be elected only belong to political party members, while citizens not affiliated with political parties are not regulated in any norm. As a consequence, the Petitioners potentially lose their chance of running as presidential tickets.

In addition, they believe that the constitutional right to elect and be elected as president-vice president in Law No. 7 of 2017 is only granted to citizens who are affiliated with political parties when, in fact, the Constitutional Court in Decisions No. 011-017/PUU-I/2003 and No. 102/PUU-VII/2009 stated that all citizens have the constitutional right to elect and be elected in the presidential elections. 

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Raisa Ayudhita
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/30/2021 18:36 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.

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