Chief Justice Anwar Usman opening the workshop on the general election results dispute resolution for the Golkar Party, Monday (2/27/2023) at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center, Cisarua, Bogor. Photo by MKRI/Agung.

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Monday, February 27, 2023 | 17:08 WIB

BOGOR (MKRI) — There is no democracy without election. Without democracy, people do not have sovereignty. Therefore, through election, the people direct the course of the nation and elect their leaders, said Chief Justice Anwar Usman when opening a workshop on the procedural law for the 2024 General Election Results Dispute Resolution (PHPU) for the Golongan Karya (Golkar) Party on Monday, February 27, 2023 at the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center in Bogor, West Java Province. Golkar’s Deputy Secretary-General Major General Istu Hari Subagio (Retired) and Acting Secretary-General Heru Setiawan were also in attendance.

The chief justice also said that the Constitution also mandates the election, which poses challenges in terms of quantity and quality in 2024.

“At least with the addition of parties to 18 national parties and 6 Aceh local parties, the Court not only rely on itself to resolve disputes over election results, but also on other stakeholders, such as functionaries of the contesting parties, especially those attending this workshop. Political parties are the pillar of democracy to ensure a democratic election. This workshop is organized to form a synergy with institutions that exercises the mandate to develop a democracy and law-based state. Let us guard the democracy in 2024 so it complies with the principles in the Constitution and statutory regulations,” he said to members of Golkar Party from across the country.

Insight for Party

In his report, Acting Secretary-General Heru Setiawan said that the Golkar Party will contest in 2024. Therefore, this four-day workshop was expected to give party members and functionaries relevant knowledge on PHPU. All 150 attendees would be introduced to various systems and PHPU management stages, both as a petitioner and a relevant party.

“After the presentations, the participants will be guided by deputy registrars who have experience dealing with PHPU in the previous election. There will also be evaluation to assess the participants’ understanding of the materials,” he said in person.

Basic Knowledge

In his remarks, Major General Istu Hari Subagio (Retired) as Golkar’s Deputy Secretary-General thanked the Court for organizing the workshop for his party. He hoped the workshop would continue building party members’ capacity now and in the future. He said the election is a manifestation of the people’s sovereignty and in order to ensure a quality election, human resources that are prepared to compete in a healthy manner.

“Golkar Party cadres must carry out their duties to the best of their abilities to obtain knowledge in order to maintain Golkar’s votes. In addition, through this workshop, hopefully the cadres can spread the knowledge to the other cadres in the regions, so that all at least would have basic knowledge to maintain the party’s votes in the upcoming election,” Hari said.

Object of Dispute Resolution

Constitutional Justices Wahiduddin Adams and Enny Nurbaningsih delivered the first two presentations in the first session. Justice Wahiduddin said that in PHPU is inseparable from political parties. In the 2024 Election, 18 national parties and 6 Aceh local parties will compete on February 14. The key object in PHPU is the certification of the national votes by the KPU (General Elections Commission).

The litigants in a PHPU case are petitioners—which could be political parties participating in election, DPR (House of Representatives) or DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) member candidates of a certain party who have obtained the approval of the party’s chairman and secretary-general, or DPRA (Aceh Legislative Council) and DPRK (Aceh Regency Legislative Council) members for Aceh parties; as well as the KPU (General Elections Commission) as respondent.

Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) acts as an informant. Meanwhile, the relevant parties are other political parties who has a stake in the election and DPR/DPRD member candidates of a certain party who have obtained the approval of the party’s chairman and secretary-general.

“It must be noted that the petition must have obtained the approval of the party’s chairman and secretary-general. Any petition filed to and already adjudicated by the Court cannot be withdrawn,” he said in person at Grha Konstitusi 3 of the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center.

Accountable Evidence

Next, Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih said that for campaign teams and legislative candidates, the key requirement is understanding of all statutory laws and regulations on election, which detail the documents to submit when filing a PHPU petition. The evidence, she said, will be presented during the proceedings transparently, even trivial things such as signatures.

“Because this relates to conflicting cases, especially the submission of relevant pieces of evidence to elaborate the arguments of the case. All evidence submitted must be accountable,” she said alongside moderator Nanang Subekti, Head of the Program and Implementation of the Pancasila and Constitution Education Center.

She also reminded the workshop participants of online petition filing, which is now available thanks to advances in technology. Petitioners can send their petition on the Court’s portal. Frequent mistakes, such as a hardcopy petition that is different from the softcopy, could hinder the petition filing, so she advised them to ensure that the softcopy and hardcopy petition filed, both the initial copy or the revised version, match.

Author: Sri Pujianti
Editor: Nur R.
Translator: Berlian Febrina Viaraputri/Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/14/2023 13:59 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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