Expert assistant, Pan M. Faiz speaking at the workshop on the resolution of 2024 election results disputes for Gerindra Party, Tuesday (2/14/2023) at Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. Photo by MKRI/Ifa.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023 | 14:24 WIB
BOGOR (MKRI) — The election system in Indonesia is influenced by the Court’s decision especially through the mechanism of Judicial Review. This was conveyed by Pan M. Faiz in his opening remarks on the second day of the workshop on General Election Dispute Resolution 2024 for the Gerindra Party on Tuesday (14/2/2023) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor.
Faiz gave several examples of cases that have a direct impact on the election system, such as the most recent test of the proportional election system regulations submitted by some party members.
“For instance, the number of judicial review cases regarding open proportional system rules affects the position of political parties and the determination of candidates. Therefore, the judicial review of its law can also affect future elections,” Faiz said.
PHPU Dynamics
Meanwhile regarding the authority to decide Disputes on General Election Results (PHPU), Faiz revealed that the Court was limited by time, 14 working days to complete the Presidential Election dispute and 30 days to complete the legislative election dispute. Faiz reminded that eventhough the Court's authority is only related to the results, there is still possibility that other violations could be resolved at the Constitutional Court, not only related to disputes over vote results in the form of numbers.
"If there is a violation of ethics, it can be resolved at the DKPP. Meanwhile regarding election crimes can be submitted to Gakkumdu and only if there is a dispute regarding the election results can be brought to the Constitutional Court. Then the question is, if it is related to other violations, can it be brought to the Constitutional Court? So, the answer depends on whether the violation has been resolved by Bawaslu and others or not," said Faiz.
Regarding violations that might be considered by the Constitutional Court, Faiz emphasized that structured, massive and systematic violations that could affect the results of the vote could be considered by the Panel of Constitutional Justices. For example, there is money politics, ASN non-neutrality, vote recapitulation errors, physical intimidation, or other TSM violations. “Massive means comprehensive and extensive and some can be proven in the Constitutional Court. Not only that, the violation must also be significant so that it affects the number of votes," he said.
In the QNA session, Mustakim from the Gerindra Party North Maluku province questioned the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the review of Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation. According to him, the Government committed a violation by ignoring the Constitutional Court Decision Number 91/PUU-XVIII/2020 and instead issued Perpu Number 2 of 2022 concerning Job Creation.
Answering this question, Faiz explained that the judicial review at the Constitutional Court was divided into two: formal review and material review. Review that are often submitted to the Constitutional Court are reviews of articles, paragraphs, attachments, or explanations in a law or known as material reviews.
"But on the other hand if testing the formation process, then formal testing. In testing the Job Creation Law, both of them were submitted (to be tested), so the Constitutional Court tested it formally. Because from the formal or the process of its formation, the law can already be declared flawed. And indeed the Court's decision regarding the Job Creation Law was the first decision for a formal review that was ruled unconstitutional. Conditionally unconstitutional means that the implementation of the law must follow the considerations of the Constitutional Court, if it does not follow the Constitutional Court's decision, then the law is unconstitutional," said Faiz.
Meanwhile regarding the government not implementing the Constitutional Court's decision, Faiz said there were still many ways that could be taken. One of them is through testing the law to the Constitutional Court. He revealed that there were several requests to go to the Constitutional Court to test the Perpu 2/2022 from several unions.
"There is nothing to submit to the MK. Usually in the middle of a trial, later the DPR will approve the Perpu to become law, then the application will be dismissed because the object of the application is lost. Is there no way anymore? There is still testing the law that was passed, "said Faiz.
Time Limit
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Registrar Wiryanto explained the 18 stages of handling PHPU cases for members of the DPR and DPRD in 2024. He said that in accordance with KPU regulations, the announcement of the voting results for the 2024 Simultaneous Elections will be announced on 15 February - 20 March 2024. "So, the Constitutional Court has been prepared since March 20, 2024 to accept the application according to the time limit mandated by law, which is 3 x 24 hours," he explained. He continued that apart from the 3 x 24 hour time limit for registering an application, there will be a second 3 x 24 hour period to make repairs 3 x 24 hours. If all applications are complete, they will be registered by the Court Registrar's Office.
In response to this explanation, Fauzia DPP Advocacy for the Gerindra Party questioned the effectiveness of the 3 x 24 hour deadline for submitting requests and evidence for the 2024 PHPU. Regarding this question, Wiryanto made a number of suggestions for getting around this deadline. First, he requested that participants who wish to become applicants be able to predict, for example regarding vote disputes, they must prepare evidence related to votes.
"If you have prepared the arguments that are being applied for, God willing, you can pass it. Most of the time all evidence is sent to the Constitutional Court, this is fine, but it's better from start to finish, all documents are collected. For example, at TPS X there was a vote bloat, so you have to prepare evidence related to this argument, such as the Plano. Just that one is enough, then it represents the request of Mr and Mrs, "explained Wiryanto.
ICT Support
In the final session of the second day, Jefriyanto and Ishak Purnama of the Court’s IT Centre were present who explained the material "Use of ICT in Handling Cases at MK". In his explanation, Ishak said that the use of ICT was one of the concrete efforts made by the Constitutional Court to create easy access for parties to litigation at the Constitutional Court as a modern and trusted judicial institution.
Adding to this statement, Ishak Purnama said that as a modern judiciary, the Constitutional Court has an ICT (information, communication, and technology-based work system), has an advanced mindset and cultureset—including a commitment to ICT (integrity, clean, and trustworthy).
"Not only does it require an advanced mindset, but it also requires an advance cultureset. For example, during a pandemic, we were forced to work, study and study at home, so technology played an important role in carrying out activities. Likewise with being in the Constitutional Court, the petitioners must be familiar with this technology, "explained Ishak.
Furthermore, Ishak introduced a number of applications owned by the Court to make it easier for parties to access justice, including the Electronic Case Handling Information System or SIMPEL (regulated in PMK 18/2009), the MK website, Click MK, and others. Regarding the many questions regarding the difficulty of access when using SIMPEL, Ishak said that MK had collaborated with a number of universities throughout Indonesia in the use of mini courtroom smart boards that could be used. The existence of smart board mini courts is in 53 locations from universities to Constitutional Village.
"We are not only sending mini courtroom smart board tools, but also equipped with internet facilities. So, ladies and gentlemen who have questioned about network problems, please come directly to the nearest university to submit an online trial," said Ishak.
The Gerindra Party workshop were held on Monday - Thursday (13-16/2/2023) attended by 151 participants. The materials that will be provided to the participants include: (1) the Constitutional Court and the Dynamics of Handling PHPU Cases at the Constitutional Court; (2) Procedures for Settlement of Disputes on the 2024 General Election Results; (3) Mechanisms, Stages and Activities for Handling Cases for Dispute Settlement on the 2024 General Election Results; (4) Techniques and Practices for Compiling the Petitioner's Application and Compilation of Related Party Statements; (5) Information System for Handling Disputes over the 2024 General Election Results; and (6) Evaluation of the results of the Compilation of the Petitioner's Application and the Compilation of Related Party Statements. (*)
Author: Lulu Anjarsari P.
Editor: Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator: Berlian Febrina Viaraputri/NL
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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