Chief Justice Anwar Usman opening a judicial review hearing of Article 10 paragraph (9) of the Election Law, Monday (5/8/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held the judicial review hearing of Article 92 paragraph (2) letters c and d and Article 117 paragraph (1) letters g and h of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections on Monday, May 8, 2023. The hearing for petition No. 34/PUU-XXI/2023, filed by Suryadin, was presided over by Constitutional Justices Wahiduddin Adams, Saldi Isra, and Enny Nurbaningsih.

At this petition revision hearing, the Petitioner conveyed the revisions to the petition, which included that to the explanation of his constitutional impairment due to the provisions on the selection of Panwaslu (elections supervisory committee) in the Election Law. He said the norms in question had led to the lack of electoral supervision, thus, reducing its integrity. This was detrimental to the right to participation.

“There are inappropriate norms due to the lack of the provisions on ‘residing in the subdistrict area.’ Therefore, it is clear impairment has happened due to norm ambiguity, in which the Petitioner’s domicile subdistrict elections supervisory committee did not facilitate the Petitioner, a resident of the region, in the committee’s selection process,” he said.

Also read: Petitioner Questions Mental Health Certificate for Panwaslu Selection

At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, April 11, the Petitioner revealed that he had participated in the selection of Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) members of Dompu Regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province in 2017 and 2022. In September 2022, he passed the administrative selection, the written test, and the interview, and was declared a prospective interim member. The Petitioner questioned the mental health certificate from psychiatrist that the Dompu Regency Bawaslu required of all applicants, while the selection for the subdistrict Panwaslu of Dompu Regency did not require it.

Therefore, he requested the constitutional justices to declare Article 117 paragraph (1) letters g and h and the elucidation as well as the appendix of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as ‘submitting a mental health certificate from a psychiatrist for candidates of subdistrict elections supervisory committee members, village elections supervisory committee (PKD) members, and polling station supervisors (PTPS), resides in the subdistrict for candidates of village Panwaslu members, and resides in the hamlet for candidates of polling station supervisors.

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

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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