Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo delivering a keynote speech at a national seminar at Dr. Soetomo University, Friday (9/30/2022). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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Friday, September 30, 2022 | 22:57 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo delivered a keynote speech at a national seminar on “Efforts to Enforce Election Laws in Resolving Disputes over General-Regional Election Results” on Friday, September 30, 2022 on site at the Auditorium of Ki H. Muhammad Saleh of Universitas Dr. Soetomo (Unitomo), Surabaya. He also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Constitutional Court (MK) and Unitomo by Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah and rector Siti Marwiyah.

Justice Suhartoyo said in his presentation that general elections are a fundamental part of a democratic government and can be interpreted as a manifestation of people’s sovereignty. “However, not all countries that have run elections can be called democratic countries,” he said.

He explained that in a democratic political system, a government must be elected regularly through a fair and open election, without coercive actions. Eligible citizens have the right to vote and be elected, and they have political freedom. In addition, there are alternative sources of information outside the government that are not monopolized by certain groups. All citizens also have equal right to form and join autonomous groups, including political parties or other interest groups.

He also emphasized that the achievement of indicators of democracy is inseparable from the election laws. Election laws in Indonesia have been developing rapidly, which is related to the Constitutional Court’s progressiveness in producing decisions on election laws, not only based on statutory regulations but also various jurisprudence through its constitutional authority in reviewing laws and disputes over the results of general and regional elections.

Since the Constitutional Court was founded in 2003, Justice Suhartoyo said handed down approximately 676 decisions relating to disputes over general election results and around 1,136 decisions relating to disputes over regional election results. It has also handed down landmark decisions related to election laws, which are some of the most petitioned laws. Those breakthroughs both in material law and formal law resulted in new legal electoral principles.

Constitutional Court decisions that affect election rules are classified into groups related to voting right and requirements for using voting right, election participants and candidate requirements, election system, vote counting and determination of elected candidates, election administration, and mechanism for settling regional election disputes.

The institutional model for election management should stand independently and be free from intervention by the government, political parties, or other interest groups. The independent electoral institutional model includes institutional, functional, and personal aspects. The institutional aspect means election organizers are not subject to and free from dependence on various parties. The functional aspect means that the election organizers’ authority must be free from interference, while the personal aspect means that each individual involved in the election is non-participant and impartial. 

Case Management Monitoring

Secretary-General M. Guntur Hamzah talked about the Court’s handling of cases, whose data is updated in real time and can be accessed by the public on its website. “This shows that the public can monitor the Court’s handling of cases,” he said while showing the seminar’s participants the Court’s website.

He also revealed his 10-year experience serving as a secretary-general in the Constitutional Court. He understands all the process since a petition is filed, registered, and so on. All of that, he said, can be seen on the Court’s website. “This reflects the transparency and accountability of the Court’s management of cases. Every petition filed is then uploaded. If it was not, there could be an opportunity for staff members to commit fraudulence practices,” he explained.

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/19/2022 12:44 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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