Legal counsel Airlangga Julio conveying the revisions to the petition at the second judicial review hearing of the Election Law for case No. 80/PUU-XXI/2023, Tuesday (9/5/2023). Photo by MKRI/Fauzan.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held a second judicial review hearing of the provisions on presidential threshold as stipulated in Article 222 of Law No. 7 of 2017 on General Elections (Election Law) is being challenged. The case No. 80/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by the Labor Party—represented by president Said Iqbal and secretary-general Ferri Nuzarli—as well as journalist Mahardhikka Prakasha Shatya and private employee Wiratno Hadi (Petitioners I-III, respectively).

At the petition revision hearing, legal counsel Airlangga Julio explained the revisions to the petition. Petitioner I had elaborated their actual impairment and explained the party president Said Iqbal’s statement of the diverse members of the party, which he believes to be a manifestation of the people’s aspiration.

“It is very difficult to form a political party. It must have a structure, branches. The Labor Party has undergone all of that and has been listed in the election. Therefore, in this revision, we request a provisional decision on the duration of the settlement of this case,” Airlangga said before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra (panel chair) and Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo and Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.

Also read: Labor Party Challenges Provisions on Presidential Threshold

At the preliminary hearing on Wednesday, August 23, Petitioner I alleged that the Labor Party had been disadvantaged by the threshold imposed on political parties or coalition of political parties when proposing presidential tickets. They also alleged that no political party or party coalition participating in the election that had fulfilled the provision of Article 222 of the Election Law reflected, fought for, or had goals in line with their ideas. As a political party that focuses on the issues of labor, agriculture, environment, indigenous peoples, the Labor Party aspires to realize a welfare state, which is based on people’s sovereignty, employment, eradication of corruption, and social security.

To meet the threshold, a party or coalition must have obtained at least 20% of the total number of House of Representatives (DPR) seats or 25% of the national valid votes. Based on the previous legislative elections, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) only obtained 8.21%, while the Democratic Party only 7.77%, and even the two combined did not meet the provisions of Article 222 of the Election Law.

Meanwhile, Petitioner II was once appointed by the Labor Party as a House legislative candidate from the Central Kalimantan electoral district for the 2024 Election. As a result of the election system under the provisions of Article 222 of the Election Law, he would potentially suffer losses if residents in his electoral district, his supporters, and his potential constituents asked why his party joined a coalition that supports the Job Creation Law. Meanwhile, Petitioner III had to drop out of legislative race for the 2024 Election because it would be impossible for the Labor Party to join any coalition of parties that support the Job Creation Law, which it rejects.

The Petitioners also requested that the Court be able to hand down a decision before October 19 to provide sufficient time for the Petitioner, the KPU (General Elections Commission), and relevant agencies to make the necessary adjustments to the results of the a quo decision. Meanwhile, in their petitum, they requested that the Court declare Article 222 of the Election Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as “The requirement to propose Candidate Pairs does not apply to Political Parties Participating in Election that have never participated in the previous elections for House members.”

Author       : Sri Pujianti
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Raisa Ayuditha
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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