The constitutional justices entering the courtroom for a judicial review hearing of the Election Law to examine the revised petition by the Nusantara Awakening Party (PKN), Wednesday (3/1/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ilham W. M.

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Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | 19:27 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, the Constitutional Court (MK) held a second judicial review hearing of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections for case No. 16/PUU-XXI/2023, filed by the Nusantara Awakening Party (PKN). Constitutional Justices Saldi Isra (chair), Wahiduddin Adams, and Manahan M. P. Sitompul heard the revisions to the petition in a panel hearing.

Gede Pasek Suardika, a representative of the party, explained that the Petitioner had included Constitutional Court decisions on the issue and affirmed the party’s chairman and secretary-general’s position in the statute/bylaw, which allows them to represent the party in and out of court.

“In the petition, a PKN meeting’s minutes is added, which shows that the attendees agreed that the chairman and secretary-general should file a judicial review petition to challenge this issue,” he said. The party argues that Article 222 of the Election Law is in violation of Article 6A paragraph (2), Article 22E paragraph (1), Article 27 paragraph (1), and Article 28D paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution.

Also read: PKN Challenges Right to Nominate Presidential Tickets

PKN questions the discrimination against political parties who nominate presidential tickets. Contesting political parties, the party asserted, must be interpreted differently in each election although the majority of them participate frequently, meaning that all of them, frequent participant and new ones, must register come election. Consequently, any party failing to register cannot join the election despite having representatives in parliament in the previous term.

The party believes, with the decision for simultaneous legislative and presidential election, it would be odd to require the registration of presidential tickets based on voters’ data of a previous election, when the voting process is based on voters’ data for the current election. This would show inconsistency, especially as voters’ data is an essential element in elections.

The simultaneity of election, PKN argued, must follow Article 6A paragraph of the 1945 Constitution, which authorized contesting parties to nominate presidential tickets without any additional requirements, while Article 222 of the Election Law regulates requirements for presidential threshold based on seats or valid votes, which the Court believes to be an open legal policy. Therefore, the provision must not eliminate the constitutional rights of other contesting political parties who cannot choose between seats and valid votes.

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayuditha
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/6/2023 10:46 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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