Petition revision hearing for case No. 6/PUU-XX/2022 on the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Thursday (2/3/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Teguh.

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Thursday, February 3, 2022 | 17:13 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members Tamsil Linrung, Fahira Idris, and Edwin Pratama Putra revised the material judicial review petition on the provision on presidential threshold in Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law). The revisions were conveyed at the second hearing by the Constitutional Court (MK) for case No. 6/PUU-XX/2022 on Thursday, February 3, 2022.

Legal counsel Achmad Yani stated that the Petitioners added Article 27 paragraph (1), Article 28D paragraphs (1) and (3), and Article 28C of the 1945 Constitution as touchstones. They had also revised their legal standing following the advice from the panel—Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto (chair), Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih, and Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul.

“We also expanded the Petitioners’ legal standing. We believe the constitutional rights regulated and protected by Article 27 paragraph (1), Article 28D paragraph (1), Article 28D paragraph (3). We also quoted the fourth paragraph of the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution. We also stated that every law that applies in the Republic of Indonesia is binding on all citizens. Therefore, Law No. 7 of 2017 does not only bind political parties, but also all Indonesian citizens. Therefore, the Petitioners, who are citizens, have the right to file a petition in their position as citizens,” Achmad Yani asserted.

Also read: Three DPD Members Challenge Presidential Threshold

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioners asserted that their constitutional rights and/or authorities were harmed by the enactment of the Election Law. They argued that in a conceptual normative construct, Article 6A paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that the right to vote and the right to be a candidate are constitutional rights, which bases the Court’s legal considerations in reviewing laws regarding general elections.

The enactment of the a quo law has directly or indirectly, or at least potentially, harmed the Petitioners’ constitutional rights to have more presidential-vice presidential candidates. Their constitutional right as voters to vote for a presidential ticket directly, which is guaranteed by Article 6A paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution, has been harmed by the threshold, which is not based on the 1945 Constitution.

The Petitioners believe that the threshold is not an open legal policy but a legal policy that has been explicitly stipulated in the 1945 Constitution and is not to be delegated to any legislation. The policy to be delegated, instead, is the procedure of the presidential elections, which is based on Article 6 paragraph (2) and Article 6A paragraph (5) of the 1945 Constitution. As such, in the petitum, they requested that the Court annul Article 222 of the Constitutional Court Law.

Writer        : Lulu Anjarsari
Editor        : Lulu A.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 2/3/2022 17:41 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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