Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman and Saldi Isra elected as chief justice and deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court for 2023-2028, Wednesday (3/15/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | 16:21 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI) — Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman and Saldi Isra were elected as chief justice and deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court (MK) for 2023-2028. In a livestreamed public justice deliberation meeting on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 in the plenary courtroom, all nine constitutional justices voted for the new chief justice-deputy chief justice.

“The election of chief justice and deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court for the 2023-2028 term commences and is open to the public,” said Chief Justice Anwar Usman opening the meeting.

The nine justices had had a closed deliberation meeting at 11:00–14:00 WIB to reach unanimity, but failed to do so. “The meeting has decided that the election of chief justice and deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court for the 2023-2028 term be done through voting at an open plenary hearing,” the chief justice said.

Justice Anwar explained that all nine justices—Constitutional Justices Anwar Usman, Arief Hidayat, Wahiduddin Adams, Manahan M. P. Sitompul, Suhartoyo, Saldi Isra, Enny Nurbaningsih, Daniel Yusmic Pancastaki Foekh, and M. Guntur Hamzah—had the same right to elect and be elected as chief justice and deputy chief justice.

Chief Justice Anwar Usman was elected in the third round after both he and Constitutional Justice Arief Hidayat tied with four votes each in the previous two rounds, with one justice abstaining. Only in the third round did he finally obtained five votes that secured his win.

“Everywhere, I have said that one’s position belongs to God. This afternoon, my fellow constitutional justices gave me a mandate. I hope the media will be monitoring us,” he said alongside Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra after the election.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Justice Saldi Isra was elected deputy chief justice after winning five votes in the first election, with Constitutional Justice Daniel Yusmic Pancastaki Foekh winning three votes and one justice abstaining.

Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said the newly-elect chief and deputy would be focusing on preparing for the upcoming 2024 Simultaneous Election.

The election of chief justice and deputy chief justice followed Article 4 paragraph (3) of the Constitutional Court Law on the tenure of chief justice and deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court and followed up on the Constitutional Court Decision No. 96/PUU-XVIII/2020 dated June 20, 2022. It stipulates, “… Article 87 letter a of Law No. 7 of 2020 is no longer binding after this Decision is pronounced. However, in order to prevent any administrative issue/impact on the a quo decision, the sitting Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice holds the positions until the election of Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice as mandated by Article 24C paragraph (4) of 45. Therefore, no later than 9 (nine) months after this decision is pronounced, an election of Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court must take place.”

The election also followed the Constitutional Court Regulation (PMK) No. 6 of 2023 on the Procedure for the Election of the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, which stipulates that both court leaders are elected from among and by constitutional justices for a term of five years, in a plenary meeting with a quorum of seven justices. If the meeting fails to achieve quorum, the election shall be postponed for no later than two hours, after which the election be continued despite not meeting quorum. If unanimity is not reached in a closed meeting, a voting is done in an open and public plenary meeting at the plenary courtroom.

After election, based on Article 21 paragraph (3) of the Constitutional Court Law, before they assume positions, elect chief justice and deputy chief justice of the Constitutional Court take an oath of office according to their religion before the Court. Following PMK No. 1 of 2020 on the Constitutional Court Hearings, the oath of office will be taken at a special plenary hearing on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 11:00 WIB in the plenary courtroom. The special hearing will be witnessed by the president/vice president, heads of state agencies, ministers, other officials, and employees of the Registrar’s Office and the Secretariat-General of the Constitutional Court.

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 3/16/2023 08:06 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.