The judicial review hearing of Article 169 letter n of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Tuesday (11/8/2022). Photo by MKRI/Bayu.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2022 | 16:17 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—The second hearing for the judicial review of Article 169 letter n of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) was held by the Constitutional Court (MK) on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 in the plenary courtroom. At the petition revision hearing for case No. 101/PUU-XX/2022, coordinator of the Prabowo-Jokowi joint secretariat for 2024–2029 Ghea Giasty Italiane conveyed the revisions to the petition.

The first revision was to the title of the petition, which had been changed to “The judicial review petition of Article 169 letter n of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) against Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.”

“The previous ‘title’ could be ambiguous, as it had not focused on Article 7 and for this revision, we have turned the focus to Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution,” she said virtually before Constitutional Justices Arief Hidayat (panel chair), Suhartoyo, and Enny Nurbaningsih.

She also added that there was an addition of two petitioners, Desy Febriani Damanik and Anyelir Puspa Kemala, and the change to individual petitioners, where it previously had been the Prabowo-Jokowi joint secretariat for 2024–2029.

Ghea also asserted that the posita was unchanged. “The petitum was changed. [The Petitioners requested that the Court:] first, grant the judicial review petition in its entirety; second, declare Article 169 letter n of Law Number 7 of 2017 on General Elections in contrast to Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution if not interpreted as the same presidential and vice-presidential pair in the same tenure; third, declare the phrase ‘for two tenures in the same position’ in Article 169 letter of the a quo Law unconstitutional if not interpreted as consecutively,” she said.

Also read: Prabowo-Jokowi Joint Secretariat Challenges Provision

The petition No. 101/PUU-XX/2022 on the judicial review of Article 169 letter n of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) was filed by (now) three individual citizens: Ghea Giasty Italiane, Desy Febriani Damanik, and Anyelir Puspa Kemala.

Article 169 letter n of the Election Law reads, “Requirements that must be fulfilled by a Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate are as follows: n. having not served as a president or vice president for 2 (two) tenures in the same position.”

The Petitioners believe the phrase ‘a president or vice president’ can be interpreted that a candidate who has served for five years can be reelected for the same position only once, where one has served as a president and vice president in the same or different term.

The provision, they argue, is ambiguous if contrasted to Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution, because it does not provide certainty over the presidential and vice-presidential candidacy. In short, a vice president who has not served twice can join another presidential candidate.

“In essence, the president and vice president are two different positions. So, can we nominate the President (Joko Widodo) as a vice president alongside Mr. Prabowo? In our opinion, it is legal,” Ghea said virtually at the preliminary hearing on Wednesday, October 26, 2022.  

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

Translation uploaded on 11/9/2022 09:12 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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