A judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Monday (10/24/2022). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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Monday, October 24, 2022 | 15:55 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—The Constitutional Court (MK) held a judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections on Monday, October 24, 2022. The petition No. 87/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by Leonardo Siahaan, who challenges Article 240 paragraph (1) letter g of the Election Law. Before Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo (chair), Wahiduddin Adams, and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, Siahaan conveyed the revisions to the petition.

Firstly, the Petitioner asserted himself as an eligible voter in the upcoming election and expressed his concern for the ambiguous phrase in the article, which could lead to election candidates with no integrity. Secondly, he included a comparison of backgrounds between the petition in this case and the previous petitions. Thirdly, the touchstone for this case is Article 28J of the 1945 Constitution, which is different from that used by the petitioners in previous cases.

“Then, the legal framework has been revised by [explaining] that if the phrase in the a quo article is implemented, the Petitioner believe there will be no candidates with integrity. In addition, if this norm is enforced, it could potentially cause abuse of power Because the tenure of legislative members does not have a limit, so that loophole can then be used by candidates,” the Petitioner explained.

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The Petitioner challenges Article 240 paragraph (1) letter g of the Election Law, especially the phrase ‘unless the individual openly and honestly announces to the public that they have served their time as a convict.’ The provision, he argues, gives convicted corruptors sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment or longer to run for the legislature, which represents the interests of the people. He believes such candidates, who lack integrity, will add to the problems in the parliament, both at the central and regional levels, because they will likely spread only transmit the seeds of corruption to other members of the legislature or they may repeat their corrupt practices or even encourage others to follow suit.

Therefore, in the petitum, the Petitioner requests that the constitutional justices grant his petition in its entirety and declare the phrase ‘unless the individual openly and honestly announces to the public that they have served their time as a convict’ in Article 240 paragraph (1) letter g of the Election Law unconstitutional.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Raisa Ayudhita
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 10/25/2022 13:29 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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