Chief Justice Anwar Usman, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra, and Chief Registrar Muhidin at the ruling hearing of the judicial review of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections, Thursday (5/25/2023). Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — As long as they have met other requirements as stipulated in Article 117 paragraph (1) of the Election Law, every citizen has the right to be a prospective member of subdistrict, village, or polling station (TPS) election supervisory committee (Panwaslu). This means that even if they do not resident in the subdistrict or village in question, as long as they reside in the regency/city in question, they have met the requirement.

The statement was part of the Constitutional Court’s (MK) legal considerations for Decision No. 34/PUU-XXI/2023, delivered by Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra at a ruling hearing on Thursday, May 25, 2023 in the plenary courtroom. The petition, filed by Suryadin, was of the judicial review 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.

Justice Saldi further said that the requirements in Article 117 paragraph (1) of the Election Law have limit the criteria for subdistrict, village, or polling station Panwaslu member candidates.

The absence for domicile requirement for supervisory committee members at these level is to expand opportunities for prospective members. If the requirement was applied, the recruitment might not run well due to limited human resources. The Court also asserted that election supervisory duty cannot be said to only be implemented by Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body), Panwaslu, and polling station supervisory personnel because it is done with coordination and levels. As such, geographical and sociological factors are not necessarily obstructive in election supervision.

“With these considerations, the Petitioner’s argument that subdistrict, village, or polling station (TPS) Panwaslu members must be persons who understand local conditions both geographically and sociologically cannot be a reason to restrict the domicile of prospective Panwaslu members. Based on these legal considerations, the Petitioner’s argument on the conditionally unconstitutionality of Article 117 paragraph (1) of Law No. 7 of 2017 was legally groundless,” Justice Saldi asserted.

Also read:

Petitioner Questions Mental Health Certificate for Panwaslu Selection

Petitioner Affirms Constitutional Impairment due to Provisions on 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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