The Labor Party’s legal counsels filing the judicial review petition of the Election Law on political party verification, Monday (7/25/2022). Photo by Humas MK/Ilham W. M.

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Monday, July 25, 2022 | 16:53 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—The Labor Party filed a judicial review petition of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) to the Constitutional Court’s (MK) Registrar’s Office on Monday afternoon, July 25, 2022. The head of party’s Agency for Strategic Assessment of Participation and Success (BPSKP) Said Salahudin, who came to the Court in person, revealed three things the party is pursuing.

The party’s petition, he said, is different from previous material review petitions such as one filed by Yusril Ihza Mahendra and colleagues. This time, the Labor Party focuses on the administrative verification of political parties.

“Why only the administrative verification? Considering the legal fact that in 2012, before the 2014 Election, the [KPU (General Elections Commission)] carried out administrative verification, where only one party passed, [the National Democratic Party (Nasdem)]. What did that mean? The ruling party didn’t pass the verification, based on the [Election Organizer Ethics Council’s (DKPP) decision],” he said.

He added that the DKPP’s decision was not widely known since it had been old news. “Today, the Labor Party filed a judicial review petition of Law No. 7 of 2017 on Elections. We challenge several norms, at least on three issues,” he revealed.

Three Issues

The issues the Labor Party questions, Said revealed, are party verification, political freedom for party members, and the KPU’s independence in relation to consultation between the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Government, which is binding, in contrast to the KPU, Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), and the DKPP’s independence.

Article 173 paragraph (1) of the Election Law, he said, regulates the verification of prospective parties contesting in the election. “The Labor Party believes that the Court’s last decision, Decision No. 55, has discriminated [parties] based on verification. The parties in the House only have to undergo administrative verification, while the others must go through factual verification,” he explained.

Said emphasized the party’s objection to such preferential treatment and its argument for equal verification for all parties without exception.

“What I’d like to say here is that if administrative verification is done correctly and fairly, it is hard. Even the ruling party could not pass it,” he stressed.

The party also questions the KPU Regulation No. 4 of 2022, which stipulates that a citizen can only be a party member in an electoral district that is in line with their residence in their KTP (resident ID card).

“So, the measure for freedom is the KTP. If one’s KTP shows they reside in Central Jakarta, they cannot be a party member in South Jakarta branch, in Bogor, etc. This restricts the citizens’ political freedom. We are objecting this,” he said. He also revealed that the Labor Party has thousands of members in many regions.

Next, Said added that Article 22E paragraph (5) of the 1945 Constitution stipulates that the Court interprets the KPU, Bawaslu, and the DKPP as one unity of election organizers. Article 74 paragraph (4), Article 145 paragraph (4), and Article 161 paragraph (2) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on Elections stipulates the obligation to consult.

“We the Labor Party do not question the mandatory consultation, but we object to the binding nature of the results of the consultation,” he stressed.

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

Translation uploaded on 7/29/2022 19:56 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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