La Ode Ahmad Pidana Bolombo testifying at the judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections on behalf of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Wednesday (3/1/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | 15:02 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — The legislatures have the authority to regulate the term of office of members of the provincial/regency/city KPU (General Elections Commission), which can be extended one period. The provisions also regulate their rights until their tenure expires. Therefore, KPU members’ rights have been fulfilled as mandated by the 1945 Constitution through the Election Law. Therefore, the Petitioners’ wish for the extension of the tenure of KPU members is potentially unconstitutional.

This statement was made by acting ministerial expert staff for economy and development of the Ministry of Home Affairs La Ode Ahmad Pidana Bolombo when testifying on behalf of the President/Government at the judicial review hearing of Article 10 paragraph (9) of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 in the plenary courtroom. 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).

Ahmad said the Election Law stipulates that the election shall be held nationally by the KPU, so the term of office of members of the provincial/regency/city KPU shall run for five years. This, he added, is a policy to guarantee legal certainty and realize direct, public, free, confidential, honest, and fair elections as mandated by Article 22E of the 1945 Constitution.

“Therefore, the Petitioners’ argument is unconstitutional and such extension of tenure without any selection is undemocratic. The KPU as the election organizer has been sworn in, thus, must comply with statutory provisions. Meanwhile, the Petitioners’ argument is a technical, not substantive, matter, thus can be resolved through technical provisions,” he explained before Chief Justice Anwar Usman and the other eight constitutional justices.

Before adjourning the session, Chief Justice Anwar Usman announced that the next hearing would take place on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 11:00 WIB to hear the Petitioners’ expert. He reminded the Petitioners to submit the written statement of the expert no later than two days before the next hearing.

Also read:

Petitioners Request Tenures of KPUD Members Be Extended Until After Election

Petitioners Revise Petition on Tenures of KPUD Members

Hasyim Asy’ari: Selection of KPU Members Does Not Hinder Elections

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 3/3/2023 09:43 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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