KPU Chairman Hasyim Asy’ari testifying as a Relevant Party at the judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Tuesday (2/21/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Tuesday, February 21, 2023 | 19:28 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The stages for the 2024 Election, starting from June 2022 until later in October 2024, have been determined through KPU Regulation No. 3 of 2022. The 2024 Simultaneous Election will be held on February 14, 2024. The House of Representatives (DPR), Ministry of Home Affairs, General Elections Commission (KPU), Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu), and Election Organizer Ethics Council (DKPP) have agreed on the stages and schedule for the elections at a working meeting on January 24, 2022. All stakeholders must carry out these stages according to schedule.

The statement was made by House Commission III Member Arsul Sani on behalf of the House at the judicial review hearing of Article 10 paragraph (9) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.

As such, Arsul argued, the KPU can recruit a selection team at the provincial, regency, and city levels to implement the selection of KPU members for 60 workdays. Based on the Election Law, KPU members hold office for 5 years since taking oath and may serve for 10 years at the same level. The recruitment procedure for the regency/city KPU has been implemented in 20 provinces, such as Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, and Southwest Papua for 2023–2028.

“The Petitioners’ request in this case, the House asserts, is not an issue of constitutionality of norm, but of implementation, which can be resolved through implementing regulations,” Arsul explained at the third hearing for the case, before presiding Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat and seven other constitutional justices in the Constitutional Court’s (MK) plenary courtroom.

Cycle of Terms

KPU Chairman Hasyim Asy’ari (Relevant Party) revealed that the KPU selection teams are formed in each province. The KPU has been given full authority to select its members in several stages, then inaugurate selected recruits. KPU select members in 37 provinces, with the exception of Aceh. In this special province, the KPU only certifies the selected members.

“The KPU is assisted by the [Aceh] Provincial KPU to select KPU members in the province, regencies, and cities. Meanwhile, the selection of the KIP, the Independent Election Commission, is done by the DPRA, the Aceh Legislative Council, and the DPRK, the Regency/City Legislative Council in Aceh, and in coordination with the special KPU for Aceh Province,” he said at the plenary courtroom.

Hasyim then explained that the ends of terms of office of provincial and regency/city KPU members in 2023, 2024, and 2025 vary. Following the Election Law, the KPUD must select members in the province, regency, and city no later than 5 months before the end of the current members’ tenures.

“For example, in 20 provinces, the tenures of Provincial KPU members expire in May 2023. In 118 regencies/cities, [the tenures of KPU members] end in June 2023,” he revealed.

He further said that in most regions, the schedule for the simultaneous general and regional elections would coincide with the end of the tenures of provincial and regency/city KPU members. This can be seen from the 2019 General Election and 2020 Regional Election, where no significant issues had occurred due to the change in KPU membership.

“The selection, which almost coincides with the voting of the 2024 Simultaneous Election, will not hinder the General and Regional Elections, since the KPU has organized a similar selection in 2019 and we will issue policy that guarantees the implementation of the selection of provincial and regency/city KPU members professionally and accountably,” he stressed.

Before adjourning the session, Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat announced that the next hearing would commence on Wednesday, March 1 at 11:00 WIB to hear the President/Government and two experts for the Petitioners.

Also read:

Petitioners Request Tenures of KPUD Members Be Extended Until After Election

Petitioners Revise Petition on Tenures of KPUD Members

The petition No. 120/PUU-XX/2022 was filed by entrepreneur Dedi Subroto, advocate Bahrain, and the Center for Strategic and Indonesian Public Policy/CSIPP (Petitioners I-III). They questioned the shortening of the tenure of provincial and regency/city KPU members in relation to the 2024 Simultaneous Elections. They believe this violates the principle of legality, since those members were inaugurated for a five-year term.

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,” legal counsel Ikhwan Fahrojih explained at the preliminary hearing on Monday, December 19, 2022.

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.” 

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

Translation uploaded on 2/24/2023 11:05 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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