The ruling hearing of the material judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Thursday (7/7/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.
Thursday, July 7, 2022 | 15:44 WIB
JAKARTA, Public Relations—The entire material judicial review petition on the simultaneity of elections as regulated in Article 167 paragraph (3) and Article 347 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) was rejected. The Decision No. 35/PUU-XX/2022 was read out by constitutional justices on Thursday afternoon, July 7, 2022. The Court ruled the subject matter of the petition by the Gelora (Indonesian People’s Wave) Party, represented by Anis Matta and Mahfuz Sidik, legally groundless. “[The Court] rejects the petition in its entirety,” said Chief Justice Anwar Usman reading out the verdict.
In its legal considerations read out by Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra, the Petitioner’s wish for the separation of the election of members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), House of Representatives (DPR), and Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) as well as the president and vice president into different dates but in the same year would constitute a return to the 2004, 2009, and 2014 Elections, which the Court had ruled unconstitutional.
“Because of the Court’s legal considerations in the Decisions No. 51-52-59/PUUVI/2008, the 2009 and 2014 Elections were held in the same manner as the 2004 Election, in which the election of the DPR, DPD, and DPRD members preceded the presidential election. In the future, although the elections of the DPR, DPD, and DPRD members and of the president-vice president in the 2014 Election remained separate, sometime before the 2014 Election, through Decision No. 14/PUU-XI/2013 pronounced at a public plenary hearing on January 23, 2014, the Court changed its stance [that it made] in Decisions No. 51-52-59/PUUVI/2008. In essence, the Court ruled the election of the DPR, DPD, and DPRD members that is separate from (not simultaneous with) the election of the president-vice president is not in line with constitutional principles,” Justice Saldi explained.
Therefore, he added, such a separate election was declared unconstitutional. However, although it is unconstitutional, factually the Constitutional Court Decision No. 14/PUU-XI/2013 was pronounced close to the voting for the 2014 election of DPR, DPD, and DPRD members, so the Court considered and declared that the simultaneous general election would only be held in 2019.
Also read: Gelora Party Challenges Provision on 2024 Simultaneous Election
Alternative Election Models
Justice Saldi added that after the 2019 Simultaneous Election, the Court insisted that the simultaneity of the legislative and presidential elections was constitutional, while it provided alternative simultaneous election models in Decision No. 55/PUU-XVII/2019, which was pronounced at a public plenary hearing on February 26, 2020.
Based on the aforementioned considerations, Justice Saldi explained, although the Court provided alternative models, the legislative and presidential elections must remain simultaneous. Such as stance was based on the original intent of the 1945 Constitution and its practice based on the argument that the simultaneous election of central legislative members and the president-vice president was a logical consequence of the reinforcement of the presidential system.
“It means that although it is possible [for the Court] to change its stance, so far it has not found any strong reason to do so, as it asserted in Decision No. 55/PUU-XVII/2019,” Justice Saldi said.
The separation of the implementation of the legislative and presidential elections into a different day within the same year with the legislative election preceding the presidential election would return the model to that of the 2004, 2009, and 2014 Elections, which the Court had expressly ruled to be unconstitutional. The Court had even affirmed this stance in Decision No. 16/PUU-XIX/2021, pronounced at an open plenary hearing on November 24, 2021.
“Therefore, there has not been any legal reason and fundamentally different condition for the Court to change its stance with regard to the subject matter in relation to the phrase ‘simultaneously,’ so that the norm of Article167 paragraph (3) and Article 347 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 must be declared constitutional,” Justice Saldi stressed.
Also read: Gelora Party Revises Petition on Simultaneous Election
The case No. 35/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by the Gelora (Indonesian People’s Wave) Party, represented by Anis Matta and colleagues, who had previously asserted that they had a great chance to contest in the 2024 Election as their legitimacy had been proven by the Decree of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights No. M.HH-11.AH.11.01 of 2020 on the Certification as a Legal Entity Political Party and the party had met the administrative requirements set by the Election Law.
The Petitioners believed that this would not apply because of Article 167 paragraph (3) and Article 347 paragraph (1) of the Election Law require that a political party or coalition of political parties can nominate presidential and vice-presidential candidates on the condition that they have at least 20% of the number of seats in the House of Representatives (DPR) or 25% of the votes from the 2019 Election. Thus, although during the nomination the Petitioner had been declared a contesting party in the election, they cannot endorse a presidential ticket and do not have a bargaining position in the endorsement to join forces with other political parties.
Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court declare Article 167 paragraph (3) along the word “simultaneously” and Article 347 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted to mean “The election of DPR, DPD, and DPRD, the president and vice-president since the 2024 Election not be conducted on the same day as the election, and the election of the president and vice president be conducted after the acquisition of votes and DPR seats be certified.”
Writer : Utami Argawati
Editor : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR : Tiara Agustina
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)
Translation uploaded on 7/8/2022 12:16 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.
Thursday, July 07, 2022 | 15:44 WIB 214