Constitutional Justice M. Guntur Hamzah chairing the preliminary hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Monday (12/19/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Monday, December 19, 2022 | 16:48 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The terms of office of thousands of members of the Regional Elections Commission (KPUD) at the province and regency/city levels will expire in 2023-2024, potentially disrupting the 2024 Simultaneous General and Regional Elections. In 2023, the terms of 136 provincial KPU members will expire; in 2024 49, and in 2025 five. At the regency/city level, 1,585 members will step down in 2023, 980 in 2024, and 5 in 2025.

This was the core of the judicial review petition of Article 10 paragraph (9) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on filed by entrepreneur Dedi Subroto, advocate Bahrain, and the Center for Strategic and Indonesian Public Policy/CSIPP (Petitioners I-III). The first hearing for case No. 120/PUU-XX/2022 took place on Monday, December 19, 2022 and was presided over by Constitutional Justices M. Guntur Hamzah, Manahan M. P. Sitompul, and Enny Nurbaningsih.

Article 10 paragraph (9) of the Election Law reads, “The tenure of a chairperson and commissioner of a KPU, Provincial KPU, and Regency/City KPU is for 5 (five) years and they may be reappointed for only once at the same level of the hierarchy.”

Through legal counsel Ikhwan Fahrojih, the Petitioners questioned the shortening of the tenure of provincial and regency/city KPU members in relation to the 2024 Simultaneous Elections. The Petitioners believe this violates the principle of legality, since those members were inaugurated for a five-year term.

In addition, the selection for those members, which overlaps with the election process, potentially disrupts the election process and lead to higher election costs since the state must compensate the dismissed members while still paying for the salaries of current members.

“Based on the KPU RI, the tenures of provincial KPU members in 2023-2024 are different. This variation will lead to many selection batches and selection schedules, thus disturbing the stages of the 2024 Simultaneous Elections. For a good election system, the recruitment of members of the provincial and regency/city KPU should be conducted simultaneously outside of the election stages or pre-election. Therefore, there needs to be a transition period that extends the tenures of the KPU members that expire in 2023 and 2024 until the end of the simultaneous elections in 2024,” Ikhwan explained.

In the petitum, the Petitioners requested that the Court declare Article 10 paragraph (9) of Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if interpreted as “The members of Provincial and Regency/City KPU whose tenures end in 2023 and 2024 shall have their tenures extended until after the simultaneous elections of 2024.”

Justices’ Advice

Constitutional Justice Manahan M. P. Sitompul advised the Petitioners to revise the description of the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) for the formal and material review and to mention the norm being petitioned and the touchstones in full. “The Petitioners should also do a comprehensive analysis of their constitutional impairment. If the argue their right to vote, this must be elaborated,” he said.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih highlighted the Petitioners’ legal standing, where they should explain the rights harmed due to the enactment of the law. “When contrasting with the 1945 Constitution, there must be a clear argument. The petitum is what the Petitioners request, so it and the posita must be formulated well,” she sadi.

Next, M. Guntur Hamzah (panel chair) said that the constitutional impairment must be explained. He also advised the Petitioners to attach concrete proofs of the argument of the KPU recruitment/selection. “Given that in June 14, 2022 there was a recruitment, give a optimum argument of the non-simultaneity [of the recruitment] that disrupts the election process,” he said.

Before concluding the session, Justice Guntur informed the Petitioners that they have 14 workdays to revise the petition and submit it to the Registrar’s Office by Monday, January 2, 2023 at 14:00 WIB. 

Writer        : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Nur R.
PR            : Muhammad Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 12/20/2022 16:27 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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