The virtual judicial review hearing of the Political Party Law in the Constitutional Court to hear the petition revisions, Monday (5/9/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W. M.

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Monday, May 9, 2022 | 14:06 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The second material judicial review hearing on the provision on the requirements for the recruitment of political party members in Article 29 of Law No. 2 of 2008 on Political Parties (Party Law) took place in the Constitutional Court (MK) on Monday, May 9, 2022. The case No. 44/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by E. Ramos Petege and others. At the preliminary hearing on Monday, April 18, 2022, legal counsel Dixon Sanjaya said that Article 29 of the Party Law was detrimental to the Petitioners’ constitutional rights. The Petitioners reasoned that the general chairperson of the political party that received the most votes was the sole determinant in selecting the presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Legal counsel Hans Poliman explained that the Petitioners had strengthened their arguments on their legal standing and constitutional impairment as well as reinforced their evidence.

“The Petitioners believe that ideals about the people central is improbable to realize in the current electoral system. This is due to the absence of regulations regarding the mechanism for determining, nominating, or proposing candidates for president and/or vice-president, regional heads and/or deputy regional heads that are open, participatory, transparent in terms of the capabilities and capacities internally by political parties that can endorse candidates for president and/or vice-president, regional heads and/or deputy regional heads,” he said.

The Petitioners had also abridged and strengthened the background of the petition. Meanwhile, in the petitum, they requested that the Court grant their petition in its entirety and declare Article 29 paragraph (1) of the Party Law unconstitutional and not legally binding.

Also read: Party’s Authority to Endorse Presidential-Vice Presidential Candidates Questioned

The case No. 44/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by E. Ramos Petege and others. They asserted that Article 29 of the Party Law did not require political parties to conduct selection, regeneration, and recruitment for presidential and vice presidential candidates, but instead leave them to the party’s statute/bylaw. Meanwhile, for the sake of democracy, a participatory and transparent mechanism for the selection and recruitment of presidential candidates is needed. Therefore, the Petitioners believe this could potentially endanger the national political system, especially in relation to the succession of the national leadership. In addition, they believe the recruitment and selection for presidential and vice presidential candidates within political parties was not transparent and instead prioritized sectoral interests.

In their petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court declare Article 29 of the Party Law unconstitutional if not interpreted to mean “the candidates for president and vice president will be determined based on the results of the primaries.” They also requested that it be declared unconstitutional as long as it does not mean ‘the candidates for regional head and deputy regional head who are determined based on the results of the primaries’ apply mutatis mutandis to the Election Law and the Regional Head Election Law.

Writer        : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : M. Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 5/9/2022 14:48 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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