The ruling hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Wednesday (11/23/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2022 | 19:54 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) dismissed the judicial review petition filed by three Petitioners on behalf of the Prabowo-Jokowi joint secretariat for 2024–2029. The Court is of the opinion that Article 169 letter n of the Election Law had not eliminated the constitutional right of Italiane, Desy Febriani Damanik, and Anyelir Puspa Kemala to vote. Only a person who has been or is a president or vice president for two terms in the same position and can be re-nominated as a candidate for president or vice president would be subjected to the norm.

This was part of the Court’s legal considerations for Decision No. 101/PUU-XX/2022 on Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) read out by Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat on Wednesday, November 23, 2022 in the plenary courtroom. The Petitioners challenged the provision regulating the requirements for presidential and vice-presidential candidates who have served as a president or vice president for two terms in the same position.

“Within reasonable reasoning, the legal doubts and uncertainties the Petitioners explained by can only be assessed as having resulted in a presumption of constitutional harm to an individual citizen who has served as president or vice president for two terms and has the opportunity to be renominated as a presidential and vice-presidential candidate. Thus, the Petitioners do not have the legal standing to act as petitioners in the a quo petition,” Justice Arief at a hearing presided over by Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman and the other constitutional justices.

The Petitioners filed the petition as individual Indonesian citizens as evidenced by their resident identity cards. The Petitioners argued they had the constitutional right to vote and obtain legal certainty as guaranteed by Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution, which they alleged had been harmed by the enactment of the a quo article. Therefore, the Petitioners needed certainty that a [resident who has served 2 terms can run again as a vice-presidential candidate.

The Court believes Article 169 letter n of the Election Law does not restrict or eliminate the Petitioners’ constitutional right to vote as Indonesian citizens, since there are many presidential and vice-presidential candidates to choose from and since they still can vote for the existing candidates.

“Considering that although the Court has the authority to hear the a quo petition, because the Petitioners did not have the legal standing to file the a quo petition, the Court has not considered the subject matter of the petition,” said Constitutional Justice Anwar Usman.

Also read:

Prabowo-Jokowi Joint Secretariat Challenges Provision

Petitioner Revises Petition on Requirements for Presidential Candidates

The petition No. 101/PUU-XX/2022 was initially filed by the Prabowo-Jokowi joint secretariat for 2024–2029. However, at the petition revision hearing on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, they became three individual citizens. The Petitioners believed the phrase ‘a president or vice president’ could         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 argued, was ambiguous if contrasted to Article 7 of the 1945 Constitution, because it did not provide certainty over the presidential and vice-presidential candidacy. In short, the believed a vice president who has not served twice would be able to join another presidential candidate.

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Tiara Agustina
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 11/25/2022 22:09 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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