The Petitioners’ legal counsel Muhammad Raziv Barokah conveying the revisions to the petition at the judicial review hearing of Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Tuesday (5/17/2022). Photo by Humas MK/BPE.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2022 | 15:19 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Constitutional Court (MK) held another judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) for case No. 52/PUU-XX/2022 on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 in the panel courtroom. Leaders of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) Aa Lanyalla M. Mattalitti, Nono Sampono, Mahyudin, and Sultan Baktiar Najamudin (Petitioner I) filed the petition alonngside the Crescent Star Party (PBB), represented by chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra and secretary-general Afriansyah Noor (Petitioner II). 

At this petition revision (second) hearing, legal counsel Muhammad Raziv Barokah conveyed the revisions to the petition, such as the addition to the authority of the DPD leadership, by mentioning the provision in the MD3 Law (law on legislative institutions) related to it, as well as elaboration on the authority of the PBB leaders and its statute/bylaw to support the legal standing of Petitioner II.

“The Petitioners also added the background of the petition in relation to their constitutional impairment and elaboration so that [the current petition] would not be ne bis in idem with previous petitions that have been filed to the Court,” said before the panel—Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto and Constitutional Justices Manahan M. P. Sitompul and Enny Nurbaningsih.

Also read: DPD Leaders and Crescent Star Party Challenge Presidential Threshold

The provision on presidential threshold had been challenged in the Court numerous times and the petitions had been declared inadmissible or rejected by the Court. However, the Petitioners believe that their petition is different than the previous ones. He said that, as a state institution tasked with guarding the interest of the regions and its members, Petitioner I believe the a quo article, which limits the presidential threshold to 20% of the House of Representatives (DPR) seats or 25% of the valid national votes, had restricted their right and obligation to promote and fight for equality for regional candidates to run as presidential tickets. The provision, he added, had allowed powerful political elite special access without any regard of their quality, capability, and expertise.

Meanwhile, Petitioner II, who had contested in the 2019 Election, believed that Article 222 of the Election Law had eliminated the possibility for political parties to endorse presidential tickets independently. Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court grant the petition in its entirety and declare Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections in violation of the 1945 Constitution and not legally binding.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fitri Yuliana
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 5/18/2022 09:34 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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