Chief Justice Anwar Usman reading out the Court’s verdict at the ruling hearing of the material judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Thursday (2/24/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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Thursday, February 24, 2022 | 15:22 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled the judicial review petition of Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) filed by ASN (state civil apparatus) Ikhwan Mansyur Situmeang inadmissible. The Decision No. 7/PUU-XX/2022 was read out at a ruling hearing on Thursday, February 24, 2022.

In its legal considerations, read out by Constitutional Justice Wahiduddin Adams, the Court had first considered the Petitioner’s legal standing. The legal sanding of individual citizens in a judicial review case of the presidential threshold in casu Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 was considered in Decision No. 66/PUUXIX/2021 dated February 24, 2022.

The Court asserted that the argument that an individual citizen who has the right to vote could have constitutional impairment due to the a quo article because they were kept from having alternative presidential tickets to vote for was without merit. That is because the Petitioner had been aware that his voting results from the 2019 legislative election would be used as part of the presidential threshold for the 2024 Elections, which can only be proposed by political parties and party coalitions, so he had not suffered constitutional impairment.

In addition, the Court believed the number of presidential tickets contesting in the election did not correlate with Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 because it did not limit the number of eligible presidential tickets.

“Thus, aside from the Petitioner not having constitutional impairment relating to the enactment of the norm of Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017, there was no causal relationship between the a quo norm and the Petitioner’s constitutional right as a voter in the elections,” Justice Wahiduddin read out.

Also read: Presidential Threshold Deemed Limiting Number of Presidential Candidates

The Court could not be convinced of the Petitioner’s argument on his specific or actual or at least potential constitutional impairment as an ASN in casu PNS (civil servant) at the Secretariat-General of DPD RI due to the enactment of Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017. Moreover, he had not provided any evidence in relation to endorsement by political parties and party coalitions as a presidential ticket candidate or to the candidacy requirements.

“Therefore, the Court believes that there was no constitutional impairment as alleged by the Petitioner. If the Petitioner had been endorsed by political parties or party coalitions as a presidential ticket candidate, he should have shown the proof of endorsement to the Court,” Justice Wahiduddin stressed.

Also read: State Civil Apparatus Affirms Petition on Election Law

At the preliminary hearing, the Petitioner argued that Article 222 of the Election Law was inconsistent with Article 6A paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution because the latter does not mention anything about percentage of the presidential threshold.

In the petition, he also argued that Article 222 of the Election Law in fact restrict the people’s opportunity to assess future leaders from political parties contesting in the elections. He also asserted that the threshold could affect the future of democracy and that allowing it to continue would mean allowing the politics of oligarchs affect the nation. Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Court annul Article 222 of the Election Law and declare it unconstitutional.

Writer        : LA
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Tiara Agustina
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 2/25/2022 11:53 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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